A few months after Wichita-based Koch Industries agreed to a tentative settlement in a 2013 class action lawsuit over its storage of oil refining byproducts in Chicago, homeowners are asking a federal judge to turn down the $1.4 million in settlements. In a filing this week, 20 of the plaintiffs who live in neighborhoods on …
The latest Drought Monitor shows Oklahoma has yet to return to a drought but 17 percent of the state is listed as “abnormally dry.” The abnormally dry areas are in north central, north east and east central Oklahoma. “But the rainfall statistics over the last 60 days probably warrant drought designation justification,” said Gary McManus, …
“Another week, another court ruling against the Obama administration,” is the reaction of U.S. Sen. James Lankford to a federal judge’s ruling this week that the federal government could not create rules banning fracking on federal and Indian lands. “This is something already regulated by the states,” said the Senator in an interview with OK …
Term-limited state Rep. Richard Morrissette (D-Oklahoma City) announced on Wednesday that he is withdrawing as a candidate for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. The south Oklahoma City legislator and lawyer indicated his father’s recent death “had a bigger effect on my life than I thought it would,” according to an email statement issued by his campaign. …
Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe calls the Toxic Substance Control Act long overdue and also the first major environmental reform to be enacted in over a quarter century. It is the Frank Lautenberg act nursed through committee by the Senator and others and was signed into law Wednesday by President Obama. It was January 9, 2015 when …
The weather’s been brutal over the past few weeks in Oklahoma but we apparently have short memories. Just ask Gary McManus, State Climatologist with the Oklahoma Mesonet. He notes that Kingfisher leads the way so far in the past month with four days of 100-degree weather or higher. And most of that heat has been …
The same federal judge in Wyoming who last year blocked implementation of President Obama’s first attempts at controlling fracking on federal and Indian lands has now struck down those regulations. “The issue before this Court is not whether hydraulic fracturing is good or bad for the environment or the citizens of the United States,” …
U.S. Sen. James Lankford and two others want some answers from the Obama administration over its possible violation of federal law in using federal funds to relinquish the U.S. oversight of the Internet. He joined Texas Sen. ted Cruz and Utah Senator Mike Lee in sending a letter to National Telecommunications and Information Administration …
In Branson, Missouri, the Woodland Manor water system has been purchased by Missouri American Water. The purchase involves only 170 customers but they will be incorporated into Missouri American Water’s Tri Lakes Operation which serves 6,500 customers in the Branson area, Warsaw, White Branch, Sedalia and Laurie, Missouri. The acquisition was approved by the Missouri …
“The governor is screwing rural southeastern Oklahoma again.” Governor Mary Fallin’s failure to appoint a southeastern Oklahoman to the Region 9 seat on the Oklahoma Water Resources Board prompted four legislators to ask for an Attorney General’s opinion this week. The four Democrats also accuse the Republican governor of seeking revenge over a …