Oklahoma Rejects EPA Plan To Transfer Contaminated Soil From East Palestine, Ohio
Governor Kevin Stitt tweeted that he stopped a shipment of contaminated soil from East Palestine, Ohio, to a waste disposal facility in northwestern Oklahoma.
According to an email obtained by The Frontier, the Environmental Protection Agency notified the governor’s office on Saturday that it planned to send 3,640 tons of waste to the Clean Harbors Lone Mountain facility near Waynoka.
Debra Shore, the EPA regional administrator for Ohio, said East Palestine’s contaminated soil and water need to be transferred to a hazardous waste disposal facility.
"We know it’s far better to have it safely stored in a properly constructed and monitored disposal facility than to have it remain here any longer than necessary when there are licensed, regulated disposal facilities available that routinely dispose of similar wastes," Shore said.
But Stitt said there are too many questions about the safety of shipping and storing the toxic materials. According to EPA data, this shipment contained more than twice as much waste as the Lone Mountain facility normally deals with in a year.
Stitt says he worked with Oklahoma’s federal delegation to stop the shipment.
Volkswagen Chooses Canada For Battery Manufacturing Plant
After being on a shortlist for car maker Volkswagen’s new battery manufacturing plant, Oklahoma lost out on the project to Canada.
Modifications to incentives for Volkswagen to build a new electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in Oklahoma, including nearly $700 million in state rebates if certain spending and employment benchmarks were met, were not enough to convince the company to open the plant at the MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor.
If Volkswagen had accepted Oklahoma’s offer, the company would have needed to start with 500 full-time employees and reach 3,500 by its fourth and fifth year.
Instead, the plant will be opened in St. Thomas, Ontario.
This follows a similar loss for the state last year, when Panasonic chose to open an EV battery manufacturing plant in neighboring Kansas, and in 2020, when Tesla chose Austin over Tulsa for an assembly plant.
OK AG Clears Major Backlog Of Open Records Requests
Attorney General Gentner Drummond says his office has cleared a sizable backlog of Open Records requests.
When Drummond took on his role in January, the office of Attorney General had a number of unfulfilled Open Record requests, some dating back several years. Since that time the AG has fulfilled a total of 100 requests.
The Oklahoma Open Record Act says public records can be requested by anyone and no statement of purpose is required. In recent years, there has been an increase in cases where individuals were faced with filing lawsuits to get access to public documents. Responsive documents can be restricted. And the law does not specify a time limit for responses to requests.
Oklahoma Lawmaker Injured In Weekend Helicopter Crash
An Oklahoma state representative was injured in a helicopter crash over the weekend while hunting feral hogs.
Ardmore Representative Tammy Townley was hunting feral hogs along the banks of the Red River when the helicopter she was riding in went down.
The Southwest Ledger, a Lawton newspaper, reported she was temporarily hospitalized following the incident.
Townley wrote on Facebook she suffered a broken wrist and her daughter received a concussion in the crash.
Hunting feral hogs from a helicopter is popular in southern Oklahoma, following the passage of a law to allow it in 2013. The hogs are a nuisance across the state and region, causing damage to agricultural lands, spreading disease and threatening wildlife.
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