“Federal Authorities Seek Immediate Halt to Osage County Wind Development”
U.S. Attorney Danny C. Williams requested the injunction this week, The Tulsa World reports.
- Source: Tulsaworld
- Via: Tulsa World
Scrutiny of Subsidies Could Test the Economics of Wind Energy in Oklahoma
Joe Wertz / StateImpact Oklahoma
A NextEra Renewable Energy Resources wind farm site near Elk City, Okla.
The 2015 session is still months away, but the newly elected Oklahoma Legislature has already started talking about how to divvy up roughly $7 billion in state appropriations.
Some prominent lawmakers are promising to re-examine tax credits and economic incentives worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Some of those incentives are used for wind energy, which the industry says are working.
Continue ReadingEnvironmentalists: Regional Haze Ruling in Texas Means Cleaner Air in Oklahoma
Joe Wertz / StateImpact Oklahoma
Oklahoma Gas & Electric's coal-fired Sooner Plant near Red Rock, Okla.
On Nov. 24, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its determination that Texas’ plan to reduce haze-causing emissions from its coal-fired power plants wouldn’t do enough to clear the air at national parks and wildlife refuges, including the Wichita National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Oklahoma.
Instead, the EPA will set the standards, which will likely force some plants to switch to natural gas or install expensive air scrubbers. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality didn’t take the news well, saying the EPA’s requirements would cost electricity customers billions of dollars for “a negligible increase in visibility.” Continue Reading
State Regulators: Stricter Ozone Standard Would be Hard for Oklahoma to Meet
mr-pi / flickr
Ozone is a major contributor to smog, seen here blanketing Los Angeles.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal for stricter ozone standards has been praised by environmentalists as a step in the right direction and derided by industry groups, which argue the rules will cost jobs and lead to higher prices for electricity and natural gas.
In Oklahoma, local government officials say tougher rules aren’t needed because ozone levels are already improving, and the state Department of Environmental Quality says the state would have a hard time meeting the proposed rules, which would reduce ozone standard from 75 parts per billon to between 65 and 70. Continue Reading
EPA Rejects Texas’ Plan to Reduce Haze at Oklahoma Wildlife Refuge
Logan Layden / StateImpact Oklahoma
Meers area resident Bill Cunningham looks for haze over the Wichita Mountains from the top of Mt. Scott.
Oklahoma’s largest utility companies will spend more than $1 billion to upgrade coal-fired power plants or retire them in favor of natural gas, all to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Haze Rule, which is meant to improve visibility at national parks and wildlife refuges.
But as StateImpact reported, the haze issues at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge near Lawton are being caused by power plants in Texas, not Oklahoma, and concerned residents in the area wanted to see plants in Texas held to the same standard as the ones here.
On Monday, they got their wish. Continue Reading
New York Times: A ‘Blue Light Special’ on Wind Power in Oklahoma
Travel Aficionado / Flickr
The 147-megawatt Weatherford Wind Energy Center.
The cost of producing and providing electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines has plunged in recent years, and are on track to meet — and in some markets are already beating — the generation costs of conventional sources like coal and natural gas.
Price parity has been a “long-held dream” of the solar and wind industries, The New York Times‘ Diane Cardwell reports. And alternative energy is proving competitive to conventional energy sources — especially in Oklahoma:
In September, the Grand River Dam Authority in Oklahoma announced its approval of a new agreement to buy power from a new wind farm expected to be completed next year. Grand River estimated the deal would save its customers roughly $50 million from the project. Continue Reading
“Opponents Vow to to Fight Planned Osage County Wind Farm”
A new turbine has been installed in Osage County, but the Osage Tribe is pledging continued court challenges as uncertianty over proper permits stemming from disctrict court rulings and Bureau of Indian affairs decisions lingers.
- Source: Tulsaworld
- Via: Tulsa World
EPA In the Crosshairs as Oklahoma’s Inhofe Gains Sway Over Climate Policy
Andrew Revkin / Flickr
Oklahoma U.S. Senator James Inhofe at an impromptu news conference during climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009.
The Republican wave that put the party back in full control of Congress also put Oklahoma U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe back in charge of the Senate committee that oversees the country’s environmental policies.
Continue ReadingExperts Meet in Oklahoma to Update U.S. Maps With Manmade Earthquake Hazards
Joe Wertz / StateImpact Oklahoma
A panel of state geological surveys and oil and gas regulators at the National Seismic Hazard Workshop on Induced Seismicity, held in November at a conference center in Midwest City, Okla.
Scientists, regulators and technical experts from the energy industry met in Oklahoma to discuss how earthquakes triggered by oil and gas operations should be accounted for on national seismic hazard maps, which are used by the construction and insurance industries and pubic safety planners. Continue Reading
“As Senate Readies Keystone XL Pipeline Vote, Debate On Existing Gulf Coast Section Simmers In Oklahoma And Texas”
Supporters say the 487-mile section of the Keystone pipeline that connects Oklahoma to Texas is “proof that building the rest of the pipeline will create jobs and boost tax revenues,” but detractors say the economic impact is overstated and the pipeline will dramatically increase greenhouse gas emissions “by enabling Canadian producers to develop more oil sands crude.”
- Source: Ibtimes
- Via: International Business Times
