Four stories that were trending or generated discussion online or on KGOU’s social media platforms during the past week.
The Sierra Club filed a federal lawsuit in Oklahoma City’s Western District Tuesday accusing Oklahoma City’s two largest energy companies, plus driller New Dominion, of operating wastewater injection wells that factor into Oklahoma’s and Kansas’ earthquake six-year earthquake surge. Environmentalists want federal judges to order operators to cutback at injection wells, and reinforce buildings that may be vulnerable to the temblors. They’re also asking for the creation of an independent monitoring center to keep an eye out for earthquakes.
Reader homebuilding writes: “In Kansas, last March, their Corporation Commission submitted Directive 770 which had the "power of law," and injection well operators in Harper and Sumner Counties (bordering with OK) were required to close several wells and reduce volumes to others. Allowable PRESSURES were set and all wells are monitored for pressure.
In Oklahoma the Corporation Commission can submit a report and make their wishes known, but it has all the power of SUGGESTION.
Time for the House, Senate and Governor to STEP UP and give some teeth to the OCC.....otherwise, we are mostly wasting money on the folks that monitor anything pertaining to injection wells and induced seismicity.
You have noticed that most 'watchers' in Oklahoma display similarities to eunuchs, hadn't you?”
A full-page advertisement in Wednesday’s edition of The Oklahoman turned heads when brewing giant Anheuser-Busch attacked state Sen. Clark Jolley over legislation to put changes to Oklahoma’s alcohol laws to a vote of the people. On a 12-3 vote, the Senate Rules Committee passed Jolley’s resolution Wednesday, and it now goes to the chamber’s floor. Lobbying organizations representing craft brewers spoke out in favor of the move to allow full-strength beer and wine to be sold in grocery stores and gas stations, and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman told reporters Thursday the public generally supports updating the state’s liquor laws, but the process is complicated.
Reader enpassant writes: “Anheuser-Busch doesn't want the smaller independents to be on equal footing. Let's support locally owned businesses instead of falling for a large corporations propaganda. Far more jobs will be created with the local companies. Anheuser's gonna leave the state? That's a lie.”
In the second story in KGOU’s Artland series, KCUR reporter C.J. Janovy visited a general-store-turned-art-gallery in rural Kansas. The gallery, situated in a town that’s a little more than the intersection of a two-lane highway and a dirt road, hosted its first exhibit last summer: photographs by the general store’s original owner, Otto Kratzer. Visitors from across the world now flock to Wabaunsee County in the Sunflower State to see the paintings, photographs, and simplistic beauty of the Kansas prairie.
A little over a month after announcing layoffs were imminent, Devon Energy formally reduced its workforce by about 1,000 through layoffs and retirements, which including letting go about 700 employees at the Oklahoma City headquarters Wednesday and Thursday. The mood at the downtown skyscraper was tense, with its lobby closed to the public briefly mid-week.
That’s a look at four stories that audiences appreciated on KGOU’s social media and online platforms this week. We’re always interested in your comments, feel free to write to us at news@kgou.org.
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