President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order to roll back many Obama-era rules meant to combat climate change.
Oil prices are on the rebound, which should eventually generate revenue and help Oklahoma’s state budget situation. Still, another budget hole — that could be as large as $600 million — will likely have to be filled during the 2017 legislative session.
Coal is the king of modern electricity generation in the United States. It’s also responsible for one of the nation’s largest streams of industrial waste. About 130 million tons of coal ash containing arsenic, cadmium and mercury are produced every year. The waste can be disposed of — or recycled. But critics and residents in southeastern Oklahoma question whether federal rules and state regulations are enough to keep the public safe.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric went before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission again this week to try to get approval for environmental upgrades at its coal-fired power plant in Red Rock, Okla.
The U.S. Supreme Court put a stay on the plan and a federal appeals court will hear arguments in the case later this year.
In early 2014, a for-profit company sprung out of Water4: Community Water Solutions. Since then, CWS project manager Tyler Butel has been pitching small town leaders on a way out.
Unit No. 3 is buzzing with construction workers who are installing environmental upgrades to make the coal-fired operation run cleaner.
President Obama’s Clean Power Plan enraged many top officials in Oklahoma, who argued the rules were an expensive, unnecessary overreach by the federal government. But the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could create opportunities in Oklahoma, researchers and officials say.
