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The economic and environmental impact of Oklahoma’s energy industry.

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April 11, 2018

AG Sued For More Records After Releasing Suppressed Audit That Found Evidence of Conspiracy At Tar Creek

A worker brushes dusty mine waste off a truck before it exits a field at the Tar Creek Superfund in northeastern Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter on Monday released an audit and other documents related to a corruption probe his office fought to keep secret. The records stem from an investigation launched in 2011 of the Lead-Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust, which was set up to buy contaminated properties and relocate residents near the Tar Creek [...]

March 27, 2018

Oklahoma Energy Industry Rallies Against Tax Increase Proposal

Dean Champion, an oil-field worker who does flowback work and well testing for Select Energy, mans a smoker at a March 2018 rally at the Oklahoma Capitol organized to push lawmakers to vote down proposed tax increases on oil and gas production.

The Oklahoma Senate is now considering a package of bills to increase tax revenue to give raises to teachers and public employees. Among the targeted increases are taxes on oil and gas. On Tuesday, the energy industry showed up to the capitol to rally against the proposal.

March 20, 2018

OK Supreme Court: Effort To Ask Voters To Hike Oil And Gas Taxes Can Continue

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday ruled a proposed state question that would ask voters to approve tax hikes on oil and gas production to help fund education can move forward.

March 1, 2018

Wind Companies Reconsider Oklahoma As Lawmakers Roll Up Economic Welcome Mat

A line of wind turbines near Seiling, Okla.

The Dewey County Courthouse is one of the newest in Oklahoma. The offices are spacious, and the courtroom has fresh carpet and shiny wood trim. County Commissioner M.W. “Junior” Salisbury is excited to play tour leader. “I’m pretty proud of our little courthouse here,” he says. “I really, really am.” Officials figured they would need [...]

February 27, 2018

State Regulators Expand Guidelines To Address Uptick In Fracking-Linked Earthquakes

Oklahoma oil and gas regulators are expanding rules designed to reduce earthquake activity triggered by fracking. Updated guidelines released Tuesday by the Oklahoma Corporation put new requirements on companies operating in two of the state’s most booming oil fields.

February 7, 2018

Business-Backed Plan to Increase Taxes Gets Broad OK From Oil Groups After Expanding Discount

Joe Wertz / StateImpact Oklahoma A drilling rig operating in a northwest Oklahoma oil field in 2017. After getting concessions, a group of small independent oil and gas producers is now endorsing a suite of tax increases and government reforms written by a group of business leaders known as the Step Up Oklahoma plan.

February 5, 2018

New Research: Limiting Volume And Depth Of Disposal Wells Key In Reducing Oklahoma Earthquakes

A tanker truck at an oil and gas production site in southeastern Oklahoma.

Oklahoma experienced a dramatic drop in earthquakes in 2017 — a decline likely due, in part, to regulations limiting activity at oil-field disposal wells, scientists and experts say. New research suggests those regulations might be reducing some quakes more than others.

January 25, 2018

Authorities Investigating Oklahoma Rig Explosion, Deadliest U.S. Drilling Accident In Years

Inspectors and emergency crews surveying damage at Patterson-UTI's rig 219, which exploded and caught fire Jan. 22.

Federal and state authorities are investigating the cause of the deadly explosion and fire at a natural gas drilling rig in southeastern Oklahoma on Monday. Five workers died in what appears to be one of the country’s deadliest onshore drilling accidents.

January 10, 2018

Industry Group Challenges Proposed Ballot Question To Raise Oil And Gas Taxes

The Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association on Wednesday filed two separate state Supreme Court challenges to a proposed state question that would ask voters to end industry discounts and impose a broad 7 percent tax on oil and gas production to fund teacher pay raises and early childhood education.

January 4, 2018

An Oilman Who Helped Write Energy Industry Tax Breaks Is Leading An Effort To Remove Them

Mickey Thompson has a manila envelope tucked under his arm as he walks towards the Oklahoma Capitol. If the paperwork doesn’t start a fight, it almost certainly will add fuel to one. Inside the envelope is the handiwork of about 10 people over a couple of months that could clear a path for Oklahoma voters [...]

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