Uncertainty and Austerity at Chesapeake Energy is Making Oklahoma City Anxious

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City is on edge.

Nonprofits are worried. When headlines broke this summer scrutinizing the company and CEO Aubrey McClendon’s “intertwined” finances, Oklahoma charities rallied to support their big benefactor.

These days, nonprofits are anxious about Chesapeake’s plans to cut its charitable spending by half. And recent news that CEO McClendon had been ousted from the Oklahoma City company he founded is making much of Oklahoma City — civic and business leaders, sports fans and 5,000 local Chesapeake employees — anxious.

Oklahoma City’s anxiety is palpable, because, as The Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Gilbert reports:

Chesapeake has taken a leading role in transforming a city that used to be dismissed as a cow town.