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The first Highlights of 2016 includes information dating back to the week of December 21, 2015, through time of publishing today. As regulatory actions change and evolve or other pertinent statements are made regarding seismic events, we will work to keep the relevant OKOGA committees updated.
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
eCap: Senate District 34 early voting began Thursday, special general election Tuesday. Republican candidate David McLain and Democratic candidate J.J. Dossett will face off in the Jan. 12 special general election to fill the empty Senate District 34 seat, left vacant by former State Senator Rick Brinkley’s (R-Owasso) resignation. Republicans currently hold a 39 to 8 advantage over Democrats in the Senate. Tuesday's special general election will bring the Senate up to full membership. The House is at full strength after the Sept. 8 special general election that saw Cyndi Munson (D-Oklahoma City) claim the House District 85 seat.
eCap: Doerflinger declares revenue failure, orders 3 percent General Revenue Fund cuts. Office of Management and Enterprise Services Director Preston Doerflinger formally declared a revenue failure for the current fiscal year and ordered 3 percent reductions in agencies' General Revenue Fund allocations beginning in January. Doerflinger said the 3 percent General Revenue Fund allocation reduction will more than make up the projected $157 million shortfall, reducing the money that flows to agencies by $176.9 million for the remainder of FY2016. The Board of Equalization will consider a revised estimate in February that will set the stage for budget negotiations during the legislative session. Doerflinger, along with House Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, indicated they expect the FY2017 shortfall to increase when the board considers that estimate.
- eCap: Equalization board approves $900.9 million less for FY2017
- NewsOK: Oklahoma officials declare revenue failure, announce 3% agency cuts
- OK Energy Today: Oklahoma Energy Index—Worst Yet to Come
eCap: Doerflinger: House, Senate will play role in Fallin's FY2017 executive budget. Gov. Mary Fallin's fiscal year 2017 executive budget will not be a solo effort. Instead, her chief budget negotiator said House and Senate budget writers are being asked to play a role in developing next fiscal year's spending plan. Fallin will unveil her FY2017 executive budget, her sixth, Feb. 1, the same day she delivers her state of the state address to a joint meeting of the Legislature. Oklahoma Tax Commission Executive Director Tony Mastin said the OTC used a $53.57 per barrel of oil price to calculate anticipated gross production tax collections on oil revenues for the upcoming fiscal year. The price used for the current fiscal year was $42.83. Midweek closing WTI price was $33.97 a barrel.
Oklahoma Economic Report: Guest Commentary by House Speaker Jeff Hickman, “Revenue shortfall presents challenges, opportunities for Oklahoma.”
Press Release: Gross Receipts to the Treasury Shrink During 2015. Gross Receipts to the Treasury during the 2015 calendar year are less than the prior calendar year, the first time that has happened since the end of the Great Recession in 2009.
New Energy Deputy Secretary. Tom Robins was hired by Secretary of Energy and Environment Michael Teague to be the new Deputy Secretary of Energy. Craig Sundstrom resigned his position due to a family move to Ohio. Robins was formerly Chesapeake’s state and federal PAC director. Prior to working for Chesapeake, he worked in Washington, D.C. for various Republican office holders. Robins has been active with local energy young professional groups. Robins began working for the Oklahoma Office of the Secretary of Energy and Environment this week.
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SEISMIC ACTIVITY
There has been much media attention regarding earthquakes, including coverage of 70 seismic events in Oklahoma since the beginning of the year, that have occurred since the last OKOGA Highlights. We have broken up the sections by: Edmond Earthquakes, Legislator and Public Response, OCC Response to the Edmond Earthquakes, and lastly Earthquakes in Northern Oklahoma. We anticipate a response by the OCC regarding the Fairview earthquake swarm. Below is text and the pertinent quotes and statements from officials for your quick review.
Edmond Earthquakes
NewsOK: ‘UNNERVING’ – the front page of The Oklahoman from December 30th summarized the public reaction following the 4.3-magnitude earthquake located about five miles northeast of Edmond. On Friday, January 1, another 4.2 earthquake was felt, with the epicenter located very close to the previous epicenter. No physical injuries were reported, but about 4,400 City of Edmond customers experienced an electrical outage for an hour following both quakes and the same dozen or so pictures of a fallen chimney and broken mirrors filled social media outlets and news outlet websites. Additionally, damage to an apartment complex located on Wilshire Blvd, just east of Broadway Extension in Oklahoma City experienced damage tied to the first quake on December 29. KOCO reported the brick walls of the apartment building were collapsing (video). (Prior to these larger earthquakes in Edmond, The Oklahoman summarized the seismic and regulatory activity seen in 2015.)
Journal Record: Adding up: State officials wonder if damage from small quakes weakens buildings. In mid-December, the Journal Record interviewed various builders to gauge what damage is likely from Oklahoma earthquakes. Boak said he would like to gather a consortium of structural engineers, hydrogeologists and petroleum geologists to study and publish what is known. The state may need to take a different approach if researchers don’t find cumulative damage effects, he said. “If we investigate and find we have a relatively limited number of cases, we may have to look at this on a case-by-case basis, rather than a huge class of property owners in Logan and Payne counties to demonstrate that damage,” he said. (Sub req’d)
Argus Media: Oklahoma urged to limit earthquake risk from wells. USGS advised the state of Oklahoma to distribute oil and gas wastewater injection wells over a larger area to limit potentially damaging earthquakes near cities and oil infrastructure, including the key Cushing storage hub. Matt Skinner, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission said the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is “exploring all options” to prevent the earthquakes. He would not elaborate on possible actions.
Journal Record: The big warning: Geophysicist suggests preparing for stronger quakes. USGS research geophysicist Daniel McNamara said the recent temblor swarms could signal a magnitude 5.0 quake is likely, he said. The faults underneath the Edmond region bear a striking resemblance to the faults under Prague, where a magnitude 5.6 quake struck in 2011, he said. Two temblors larger than magnitude 4 hit Prague before the 2011 event shook the region. (Sub req’d) (Fox 25 OKC also reports (video) - USGS geophysicist: Edmond fault could produce large earthquake.)
KOCO: Experts work to determine what's causing all the earthquakes. Oklahoma Geological Survey experts at the University of Oklahoma are working closely with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to figure out what’s causing all the earthquakes in areas where injection wells are not located. Director Jeremy Boak and his staff said the tremors have brought to light new fault lines that had not yet been discovered. “It’s the seismic events that are caused by produced water, not frack water," Boak said. "If all we were injecting into these formations was frack water and drilling water, we wouldn’t have this earthquake problem. It’s the long-term production of water, along with the oil and gas, that’s giving us this headache.”
City of Edmond News Release: City of Edmond Response to Recent Earthquake Activity. The release refers concerned citizens to contact the OCC, saying the city’s power is limited due to provisions in the recently enacted SB 809, which the city agrees is appropriate. “We agree with the intent of SB 809, and believe that regulation of oil and gas operations as identified in the legislation is not a realistic municipal responsibility, but should be addressed at the state government level as it currently is through the Oklahoma Corporation Commission,” said City Manager Larry Stevens.
Legislator and Public Response
With the recent, larger quakes in the greater Oklahoma City metro area, the swarm in northwestern Oklahoma late Wednesday night through Thursday and the ensuing press coverage, legislators and others are making increasingly stronger statements about immediate actions that should be taken to further regulate the oil and gas industry.
Rep. Richard Morrissette (D-Oklahoma City), who is term-limited this session and rumored to be considering higher office, joined in the response by issuing a press release asking Governor Mary Fallin to halt injection wells operating in the Arbuckle formation. Rep. Morrissette was quoted in the Oklahoman article as saying he hadn’t filed any bills regarding seismicity, but would likely offer amendments or committee substitutes after the legislative session starts in February.
This week, Rep. Morrissette also announced a public forum on Friday, January 15, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Room 412C, at the State Capitol, to discuss the recent increase in earthquake activity in hopes of getting the attention of other legislators and policymakers around the state. “The silence on the issue has been deafening,” he said. Morrissette said he hopes the forum will lead to “lengthy and loud discussions” that will get the attention of the Corporation Commission, legislators and Gov. Mary Fallin. Rep. Morrissette’s announcement included the following statement, “Now that the energy sector greedily and wantonly, without consideration of the well-being of Oklahomans or the environment in which they are expected to live, has literally made Swiss cheese of what was once our sacred home to drill a massive unstable cavern beneath our own feet, the days of tax credits protecting the gas and oil industry moguls at the expense of hard working Oklahomans is over.”
On Wednesday, January 6, Rep. Morrissette wrote an “open letter” to OKOGA President Chad Warmington in response to comments by OKOGA printed in an Oklahoman article addressing the OCC directive issued on Monday, January 4, and Rep. Morrissette’s announcement about his public hearing. Warmington responded to the open letter in an interview with KFOR, which aired at 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 6, Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association responds to quakes: “The notion that the governor, commission aren’t doing anything isn’t accurate”.
News 9 (story has been removed): OK Lawmaker Warns of Catastrophic Earthquake Linked to Disposal Wells. News 9 reported Rep. Morrissette’s warnings of damaging earthquakes. He suggested Oklahomans start pressuring their representatives to deal with earthquakes linked to disposal wells. Rep. Richard Morrissette said policymakers should do more to prevent further property damage. The scientific consensus is that disposal wells are causing Oklahoma earthquakes. “We are dumping an ocean of water, untreated back into the Earth. This is clearly manmade earthquakes,” said Morrissette. He said damaging earthquakes caused by injecting water into the ground are out of control. He said Oklahoma should stop any further injection wells.
The front page of the Journal Record from December 29 also highlights how this issue may change for the industry next year. In their article, Shifting the debate, Rep. Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie) says seismic activity will receive more attention due to earthquakes being felt in more highly populated, and more affluent areas of the state. The Journal Record article detailing the OCC January 4 directive also included quotes from Rep. Lewis Moore (R-Arcadia), “Moore, R-Arcadia, said he’s unnerved by the quakes that rattle his home. The OCC has the authority to recommend changes for individual wells, and it’s good that companies are complying voluntarily, he said. The Legislature could give the Corporation Commission broader authority to stop disposal activity near where earthquakes occurred, rather than a well-by-well approach. ‘But you have to weigh that against taking private property (of the disposal wells),’ Moore said.”
The Oklahoma Democratic Party also released a statement this week saying the OCC plan is not enough. “Now, as we approach the start of the 2016 legislative session, we call on the legislature to take swift and immediate action to restore local control and deal with a problem which continues to spiral out of hand. Furthermore, we call upon the people of Oklahoma to hold their elected officials accountable for their action or inaction as it may be and should these officials refuse to take the necessary action, that communities join together to make purposeful and decisive steps at the ballot box in 2016 to elect new representatives that put the concerns of their people and property above the priorities of special interests,” said Mark Hammons, chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party. (OK Energy Today also reports: State Gets “Lukewarm” Support over Earthquake Moves at Edmond)
Probably more telling about what the oil and gas industry will face at the Oklahoma capitol next year is an Oklahoma City Fox 25 news story from December 29 quoting both legislators – Oklahoma lawmakers say state needs stronger regulation after Edmond quakes.
House Democrats Press Release: Energy Industry Has ‘Callous Disregard’ For Oklahomans, Legislator Declares. Comments this week by an energy industry executive demonstrate “the callous disregard” that the oil and gas industry has “for the people and property of this state,” Rep. Cory Williams charged Thursday. The Stillwater Democrat was reacting to remarks by Chad Warmington, president of the Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association, who accused state Rep. Richard Morrissette of resorting to inflammatory rhetoric to politicize the dramatic increase in earthquakes in Oklahoma in recent years. “Oklahoma is not a live-in lab for Mr. Warmington and his industry to learn ‘what the proper level of injection is’ and where they should be disposing of their wastewater,” Williams said. (OK Energy Today also reports - Stillwater Legislator Says State’s Earthquake Plan is ‘Abysmal’ with interview by Jerry Bohnen, where Rep. Williams calls for a shutdown of injection wells and a different plan for produced water as well as an increase on gross production tax to pay for earthquake damage to roads, bridges and personal property.)
Oklahoma Democratic Party Press Release: The Magnitude of Failed Leadership: Speaker Silent While State Shakes. Fairview and Alva both lie within Oklahoma House District 58, currently represented by none other than Speaker of the House Jeff Hickman. Russell Griffin, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Democratic Party added, “Speaker Hickman has been silent through all of the recent seismic activity in his district and it is time for him to step up, take responsibility, and take action. Furthermore, it is time that Speaker Hickman admits the legislation he so vehemently fought for last year was wrong for Oklahoma, wrong for the people in his own district, and fractures the foundation of what we consider local control.”
Following are opinion pieces in the wake of earthquakes at the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016.
Journal Record: Opinion – Oklahoma Joe: Time for state leaders to take charge, “Is it time we start demanding our state to do much more before we are hit by an even higher magnitude of earthquake? Place moratoriums on the wastewater wells that pollute and damage the earth and then work with the oil companies on solutions? Penalize companies that refuse to comply? …. It’s an environmental mess that now has an impact on public safety.”
Journal Record: Opinion – Root: Take action on earthquakes now; charge for disposal. The author says the time for debating the issue of whether or not fluid injection into the Arbuckle Group is causing earthquakes in Oklahoma has passed and action needs to be undertaken now. Among the suggestions: Create a statewide fluid disposal plan, remove the Arbuckle Group as a principal disposal target, and levy a new fluid disposal fee on every barrel of injected fluid to create a damage repair fund.
News 9: Your 2 Cents: Oklahoma Earthquakes. Kelly Ogle earlier covered what the state was doing in one of his “My 2 Cents” segments. This segment includes calls, emails and social media posts about Oklahomans’ thoughts on recent earthquakes.
Journal Record: Opinion - Arnold Hamilton: Good neighbor legacy tarnished. When the history of Oklahoma’s early 21st-century earthquake epidemic is written, it won’t be pretty. If it is honest and complete, it will paint a devastating portrait of energy barons whose deep pockets cowed elected leaders and state scientists into months of inaction and obfuscation about what triggered the temblors: high-pressure disposal wells.
OCC Response
This week the Oklahoma Corporation Commission announced its latest plan in response to earthquakes that were centered near Edmond (4.3 magnitude on 12/29/15 and 4.2 magnitude on 1/1/16), link to January 4, 2016 Advisory. In the advisory, Oil and Gas Conservation Division Director Tim Baker says they are not only looking at seismic activity in the Edmond area, but also surrounding areas, including recent activity occurring early morning on January 4 (3+ magnitude) in the Stillwater area.
Related Articles – NewsOK: Earthquakes shake out data showing unknown fault line in Edmond area and Regulators to take action after Edmond earthquakes
Details, including a full listing of the affected wells, operators and actions for each well and a map showing the Arbuckle disposal well locations, can be found here.
A new expert contributing to the conversation on the recent seismic activity first occurring in the Edmond area is USGS Research Geophysicist, Daniel McNamara. He has shared some interesting information as well as corresponded with Oklahoma reporters on his Twitter feed. His tweets have included information on elevation changes to Lake Arcadia due to the winter storm crossing Oklahoma, past OGS research near Lake Arcadia, and OGS fault orientation research.
Earthquakes in Northern Oklahoma
The Oklahoma Geological Survey has produced a Fairview Earthquake Sequence Fact Sheet, dated January 7, 2016.
OK Energy Today: Corporation Commission Promises Responses to 17 Earthquake Night. The impact of a night of nearly 20 earthquakes in central and northern Oklahoma had staffers scrambling Thursday morning at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, looking at maps of disposal wells and of the region and trying to decide what steps should be taken to bring an end to the growing swarms of quakes. “Certainly, there will be a response,” said Matt Skinner. “Obviously it’s another critical situation.”
News9: Multiple Earthquakes, Including Magnitude 4.8, 4.3, Rock Oklahoma. Wednesday night, January 6, two earthquakes struck in northern Oklahoma, and were felt as far as Wichita, Kansas, Tulsa, and Norman, OK. The first, a 4.3 magnitude earthquake struck at approximately 10:27 p.m., near Fairview. The second occurred less than a minute later, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake, in the same area.
OK Energy Today: 17 earthquakes in one night! More than a dozen in Fairview. Since those earthquakes, the area of Fairview, Alva, and Woodward has experienced nearly 20 seismic events, including a 4.0 on Thursday afternoon.
OK Energy Today: Corporation Commission Promises Responses to 17 Earthquake Night. The impact of a night of nearly 20 earthquakes in central and northern Oklahoma had staffers scrambling Thursday morning at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, looking at maps of disposal wells and of the region and trying to decide what steps should be taken to bring an end to the growing swarms of quakes. “Certainly, there will be a response. Just what that response will be, I can’t say right now,” said Matt Skinner when reached Thursday morning after the list of quakes grew to 17 since late Wednesday night. “But obviously it’s another critical situation.”
NewsOK (video): Gov. Fallin addresses increase of earthquakes
NewsOK: Oklahoma earthquake swarm rolls on, leaving many shaken up. Gov. Mary Fallin said she believes the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is the proper agency to handle saltwater disposal wells and the links to induced seismicity."I want to commend the Corporation Commission for being so active on this issue," Fallin said. "It's important that we understand that people are very, very concerned about this. I am too, and it's important that we address the issue." Since March, 590 disposal wells have either reduced depths, cut volumes or shut down. In addition, the commission later asked operators of another 166 Arbuckle disposal wells to reduce volumes or shut down altogether.
New York Times: Earthquakes in Oklahoma Raise Fears of a Big One. Oklahoma was rocked Wednesday night by two of the state’s largest earthquakes in recent years, further fueling scientists’ concern that the continued burial of oil and gas wastes in seismically active areas was courting a much more powerful earthquake. The president of the Oklahoma Oil and Gas Association, Chad Warmington, said he believed that the regulators’ “measured” steps to rein in waste disposal in quake zones were working, but that there might be a lag between the cutbacks and a decrease in tremors.
MIDSTREAM
NewsOK: Oklahoma Natural Gas identify gas leak source. Days after a gas explosion demolished one house and damaged more than 50 others, authorities are still working to determine the cause of the blast and make sure residents are getting the help they need. Oklahoma Natural Gas is attributing the explosion to a leak in a gas main. “Preliminary results indicate that a leak occurred at a weld seam in a section of the gas main. Natural gas escaped from the main and migrated underground where it entered the residence. The gas was then ignited by an unknown source,” spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard wrote in a news release.
OK Energy Today: TransCanada Sues over President’s Rejection of Keystone Pipeline. TransCanada has filed suit, seeking $15 billion in damages from the U.S. and at the same time accused the President of exceeding his constitutional authority. It also said the White House violated a historic trade agreement. The company also filed a challenge under the North American Free Trade Agreement says the president’s decision was “arbitrary and unjustified” and violated part of the landmark trade deal.
- Attorney General Scott Pruitt announced his support of TransCanada’s federal lawsuit
OKOGA COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The following committees have meetings scheduled for January. If you are an OKOGA member and are interested in being added to a committee, please contact Lisa Hendrick.
January 11, 2016: Committee on Legislation
January 14, 2016: Health & Safety Committee
January 19, 2016: Committee on Environment
January 28, 2016: Committee on Legislation
OKOGA IN THE NEWS
Over the weekend, The Oklahoman published an article about how the energy industry will be affected by retirement boom. OKOGA President Chad Warmington was interviewed for the story. “The turnover could help modernize the industry,” said Warmington. He said some younger leaders have tried for years to help companies move to data-driven systems to reduce inefficiencies. “That mindset from some younger workers who are more data-driven, more empirical, less intuitive is probably the prevalent mindset and the way companies will be run in the future,” he said. “We'll probably continue to see the inefficiencies wrung out of the system. That's particularly more important now because these wells are such large endeavors. It's not as easy to be a wildcatter on an $8 million to $12 million well.”
OKOGA Executive Vice President Arnella Karges joined the Oklahoma City 1520 AM KOKC radio show, Mitchell in the Morning, before the Christmas break to discuss the lifting of the ban on crude oil exports and actions by OCC on seismic activity. You can listen to highlights from the show, here.
Karges will also be on The Hot Seat with Scott Mitchell, a regular segment that airs on Oklahoma City KWTV-News 9 during the Saturday morning newscast.
EPA
Air Quality State Implementation Plans; Approvals and Promulgations: Texas and Oklahoma; Regional Haze State Implementation Plans; Interstate Visibility Transport State Implementation Plan to Address Pollution Affecting Visibility and Regional Haze; Federal Implementation Plan for Regional Haze. The Environmental Protection Agency is partially approving and partially disapproving a revision to the Texas State Implementation Plan submitted on March 31, 2009, to address the regional haze requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The EPA is partially approving this SIP revision as meeting certain requirements of the regional haze program, including the Best Available Retrofit Technology requirements for facilities other than Electric Generating Units. The EPA is partially disapproving the Texas SIP revision for not adequately addressing other requirements of the regional haze program related to reasonable progress, the long-term strategy, and the calculation of natural visibility conditions. The EPA is promulgating a Federal Implementation Plan, which includes sulfur dioxide emission limits for fifteen EGUs located at eight coal-fired power plants, to address these deficiencies. The EPA is finalizing its proposed partial disapproval of a revision to the Oklahoma SIP submitted on February 19, 2010, to address the regional haze requirements of the CAA. Specifically, the EPA is disapproving portions of the Oklahoma SIP related to reasonable progress and the establishment of reasonable progress goals for the Class I area located within the state. This final rule is effective on February 4, 2016.
Revisions to the Public Notice Provisions in Clean Air Act Permitting Programs. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposes to revise the public notice rule provisions for the New Source Review (NSR), title V and Outer Continental Shelf permit programs of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the corresponding onshore area (COA) determinations for implementation of the OCS air quality regulations. This action would remove the mandatory requirement to provide public notice of a draft air permit, as well as certain other program actions, through publication in a newspaper and would instead allow for electronic noticing (e-notice) of these actions. The proposed rule revisions would apply to major source air permits issued by the EPA, by EPA-delegated air agencies, and by air agencies with EPA-approved programs. Comments must be received on or before February 29, 2016.
ESA
Rangeland restoration benefits cattle and prairie chicken. USDA (Blog). Cattle and lesser prairie-chickens both need healthy rangeland to thrive. Through voluntary conservation efforts, farmers and ranchers in the southern Great Plains can restore habitat for this iconic bird while strengthening working lands. The Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative (LPCI), a partnership led by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), works to enhance lesser prairie-chicken habitat one ranch at a time. A number of the initiative’s successes are highlighted in a new report called the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiative: Conservation across the Range. Since 2010, farmers and ranchers have made conservation improvements to 1 million acres by implementing sustainable grazing systems and removing invading woody species to restore prairies.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Releases 2015 List of Candidates for Endangered Species Act Protection. Fish and Wildlife Service, Press Release. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today released the Candidate Notice of Review, a yearly status appraisal of plants and animals that are candidates for Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. Two species were removed from the list, and two changed in priority from the last review, conducted in December 2014. There are now 60 species recognized by the Service as candidates for ESA protection. All candidate species are assigned a listing priority number based on the magnitude and imminence of the threats they face.
Wildfires, horse racing, sage grouse top stories in 2015. The Oklahoman. The federal government decided sage grouse didn't need protection under the Endangered Species Act in September. It was a decision Idaho ranchers had hoped for years, but the decision included new restrictions on mining, energy development and grazing that led Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter to file a federal lawsuit. According to Otter, federal officials wrongly ignored local efforts to protect the bird. "We didn't want a (threatened or endangered) listing, but in many ways these administrative rules are worse," the Republican governor said.
FEDERAL REGISTER
Incidental Take Permit Applications: American Burying Beetle in Oklahoma; Oil and Gas Industry Conservation Plan. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service invites the public to comment on an incidental take permit application for take of the federally listed American burying beetle resulting from activities associated with the geophysical exploration (seismic) and construction, maintenance, operation, repair, and decommissioning of oil and gas well field infrastructure within Oklahoma. Comments must be received on or before January 21, 2016.
Delegations of Authority: FERC Form No. 552. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is amending its regulations governing delegations of authority to the Director of the Office of Enforcement. In 2007, the Commission issued Order No. 704, which created FERC Form No. 552. FERC Form No. 552, Annual Report of Natural Gas Transactions, collects transactional information from natural gas market participants.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
OK Energy Today: Judge Won’t Dismiss Prague Earthquake Lawsuit. A Lincoln County District Court Judge has refused to dismiss the lawsuit filed against New Dominion LLC of Tulsa and Spess Oil of Cleveland accusing them of causing the 5.6 magnitude 2011 earthquake that damaged homes and businesses and injured some residents in Prague. Judge Cynthia Ferrell Ashwood ruled recently after attorneys for the two energy companies asked to have the suit dismissed in December, based on a 2-year statute of limitation.
OK Energy Today: Mustang Oilfield Injection Well Fight Heads to Trial in Late February. A trial date has been set for late February in the fight by Mustang residents against the efforts of Dallas-based Mid-Con Energy to create 15 injection wells in a waterflood project to recover oil from an old oilfield site near the city. Residents are protesting and the result was a decision in December for the case to go to trial Feb. 24, 25 and 26 before an Administrative Law Judge at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.
OK Energy Today: ConocoPhillips and NuStar first among companies to export oil to foreign countries. On December 31, ConocoPhillips and NuStar energy announced a load of what they believe to the nation’s first export of U.S.-produced light crude oil since Congress lifted the ban on exports.
Tulsa World: Opinion – Inhofe, Lankford, Lucas, Cole, Mullin, Russell: Lifting the ban on crude oil exports starts a new chapter for Oklahoma. Those members of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation that voted yes on the bill to lift the ban on the export of crude oil shared in a joint statement on the benefits to come for Oklahoma.
Tulsa World: Lease invalidation ruling could shake half-century of drilling in Okla. County. A federal judge's decision to invalidate one oil and gas lease could send reverberations across drilling agreements dating back 45 years in Osage County, Okla. In a case involving just one lease and two drilling permits, the judge ruled the lease invalid for failing to have a site-specific environmental assessment. The question -- whether the Bureau of Indian Affairs is required to consider site-specific environmental impacts -- is also at issue in a pending class-action lawsuit, the outcome of which could affect the fate of almost every lease signed since 1970.
The Oklahoman: Despite few payouts on claims, more Oklahomans are buying quake insurance. Although more Oklahomans are buying earthquake insurance, there are still few claims filed for earthquakes in the state, and insurers don't pay out on most of them, according to data from the Oklahoma Insurance Department. From January 2015 to March 2015, there were 109 claims for earthquake damage filed in the state, and only 18 paid, according to the most recent numbers available from the Insurance Department. Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak said he saw mostly superficial damage when he toured damage in Edmond from the magnitude-4.3 earthquake on Dec. 29. (Sub req’d)
NewsOK: Energy companies use recycled water in effort to reduce costs, earthquakes. Tumbling oil and natural gas prices over the past 18 months have led energy producers to slash drilling budgets and focus on costs, forcing oil-field services companies to find new ways to save their customers money. For more than five years, Bosque has been cleaning produced water for use in fracking in Oklahoma. Cleaning and using produced water has become less expensive over the past few years as fracking companies have adapted their processes, allowing them to use water that is not been fully cleaned.
NewsOK: Oklahoma's oil industry continues to slump. The state's oil industry has lost more than 13,000 jobs. While many of those workers have found work in other industries, the new jobs often pay less. Lower production and commodity prices also have slashed royalty payments to mineral owners throughout the state.
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