In The News
Tulsa World Editorial: Back to work
Friday March 19, 2010
The Senate approved the measure Wednesday by a large margin and now, since it already has been approved by the House, it heads to the president for his signature.
In addition to extending highway funding, the bill also includes payroll tax breaks and other assistance for businesses.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., has been a staunch supporter of enacting a longer extension of highway funding and has been a key and influential player in his role as the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Oklahoman: Hydraulic fracturing study welcomed
Friday March 19, 2010
Posted by: David Lungren David_Lungren@epw.senate.gov
In Case You Missed it . . .
Oklahoman
Hydraulic fracturing study welcomed
(BY JAY F. MARKS)
Published: Mar 19, 2010
The EPA intends to conduct a comprehensive research study into effects of hydraulic fracturing on water quality and public health. The agency is allocating $1.9 million for the study this year, with plans to seek additional funding in fiscal year 2011.
"Our research will be designed to answer questions about the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing on human health and the environment," said Paul T. Anastas, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development.
Industry officials welcomed the move, which they said should address concerns over whether hydraulic fracturing is safe.
Devon Energy Corp. spokesman Chip Minty said earlier studies - in 1995 and 2004 - concluded the process used for 60 years to extract oil and natural gas from tight formations is no danger to groundwater.
The American Petroleum Institute expects the EPA's study to confirm "that hydraulic fracturing is a safe and well understood technology for producing oil and natural gas."
Environmental group Earthjustice also applauded the announcement.
"From Wyoming to Pennsylvania, people are worried about what this untested process is doing to their drinking water," said Jessica Ennis, legislative associate for Earthjustice.
Industry officials said there has been no documented case of groundwater contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing.
The process has been used on more than 1 million wells since its first success near Duncan in 1949.
"Hydraulic fracturing is one of the U.S. oil and gas industry's crowning achievements, enabling us to produce energy supplies at enormous depths with surgical precision and unrivaled environmental safety records," said Lee Fuller, executive director of advocacy group Energy in Depth. "And, simply put, new innovations are making these technologies better and better by the day."
"We are confident that a scientific and data-driven examination will provide policymakers and the public with even greater reassurance of the safety of this practice," said Regina Hopper, president of America's Natural Gas Alliance.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, ranking member of the Senate's Environment and Public Works committee, said he intends to work with the EPA to ensure its latest study is based on the best science available.
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E&E; News: Critics on both sides assail EPA on mountaintop regulation
Thursday March 18, 2010
Environmentalists this morning strung a banner saying, "EPA: pledge to end mountaintop removal in 2010," between 20-foot-tall purple tripods outside the agency's Washington headquarters. Six protesters then chained themselves to the tripods' bases and vowed not to leave until EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson agrees to fly over Appalachia to survey environmental damage done by mountaintop mining.
Kate Rooth of the Rainforest Action Network, which organized the protest, said EPA must exercise its full authority under the Clean Water Act to prevent mining companies from blowing apart mountaintops and dumping waste into waterways.
In the Senate, Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans are preparing a report that they say shows EPA is using scrutiny of mountaintop mining to sabotage all coal mining in the eastern United States.
Watch / Read: Oklahoma State Senator Bryce Marlatt Testifies Before EPW Committee on Oklahoma Transportation
Thursday March 18, 2010
Approximately 60 million people, 21 percent of the nation's population, live in
rural communities in the United States. This is an increase of approximately 11 percent since 1990. Millions of Americans travel on our rural county and state road systems everyday. Rural roads are vast throughout the country and have significant needs. The county highway system in Oklahoma is comprised of nearly 85,000 miles. Oklahoma's rural nature and historically agricultural based economy has witnessed the conversion of many farm-to-market roads into highways. While these roads were ideal for transporting livestock and crops to market, they are less than adequate when supporting today's heavier trucks, increased traffic demands and higher operating speeds. In fact, based on an evaluation of safety features such as passing opportunities, adequate sight distances, the existence of paved shoulders, recovery areas for errant vehicles, and the severity of hills and curves; 24% of our 12,266 miles of rural highways alone rate as critical or inadequate. Over 4,700 miles of Oklahoma highways are two-lane roads without shoulders. This lack of adequate capacity for Oklahoma's rural highways prevents rural Oklahoma from participating fully in the state's economy. We will never have the jobs and the economic development we need in rural Oklahoma if we don't address our infrastructure.
Oklahoman: Legislation will give state Transportation Department access to federal money, Inhofe says
Thursday March 18, 2010
President Barack Obama smiles as he speaks during a St. Patrick's Day reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 17, 2010.
The legislation, approved by a vote of 68-29, "will ensure states receive the money they are owed and provide the long-term certainty that is the lifeblood of state and local highway and bridge programs," said Inhofe, R-Tulsa.
Tulsa World: Road funds bill given Senate OK
Thursday March 18, 2010
Passed by a vote of 68-29, the jobs bill sent by the Senate to the president for his signature extends federal funding for road projects to the end of the year, ending the need for a series of stopgap measures that had been costing Oklahoma $15 million per month.
CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN'
Wednesday March 17, 2010
Tulsa World Editorial: Inhofe right on earmarks
Wednesday March 17, 2010
Swimming upstream against his own party, Inhofe has criticized publicly the self-imposed, unilateral moratorium announced by House Republicans.
Three of Oklahoma's Republican U.S. House members - Reps. Mary Fallin, John Sullivan and Frank Lucas - took the pledge last week, and U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn has made a career of being the public enemy of earmarks. Rep. Tom Cole hasn't spoken out on the moratorium, and Rep. Dan Boren, a Democrat, says he'll still work for some earmarks.
The moratorium is a good political stunt. It'll get voter attention and make it look like congressmen are doing something important, but as Inhofe explained, "By refusing to have projects in Oklahoma, you don't save the taxpayers one cent."
Oklahoman Editorial: Fossil fuel economy is far from becoming extinct
Tuesday March 16, 2010
"Pipe dreams" is an apt term because the fossil fuel commodity with the most promising future is moved chiefly by pipeline. It's natural gas.
Jim Mulva, chief executive officer of ConocoPhillips, used the term "pipe dreams" in a remarkable speech last week at an energy conference in Houston. He also used the term "hydrocarbon deniers."
As Climate Change debate wages on, scientists turn to Hollywood for help
Tuesday March 16, 2010
Understanding science helps people know "where the truth speakers are on an issue" such as climate change, says Robert Semper, the executive associate director of the Exploratorium, a hands-on science center in San Francisco.
"The more educated and knowledgeable the public is about science ... the more responsible they can be when it comes time for voting or expressing opinions about public policy," adds Leslie Fink, a public affairs specialist at the National Science Foundation in Washington.
