Oil Spill In Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City Fire officials say an oil geyser at a north side construction site will continue to flow for some time.
Crews struck a 16-inch pipe carrying crude oil this morning near 178th Street and Portland.
The oil company has shut down the pipe, and the oil leak is contained in two runoff ponds.
Fire officials say there is no life hazard.
The city's stormwater quality team is working with the oil company for clean-up.
Wastewater Infrastructure Funding Pledged
The Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust will receive more than $50 million from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board for wastewater infrastructure improvements.
Some of that money will pay for improvements at the Deer Creek and North Canadian Wastewater Treatment Plants.
Deputy Director of OKC Utilities Engineering Will Huggins said these projects will help the city avoid problems as the city grows and its wastewater infrastructure ages.
“For the customer, the goal is they don't see any kind of impact,” Huggins said. “And then long term they don't see an impact because we've made our system more resilient, more reliable.”
The city is also taking some houses in an older subdivision in the Lake Overholser Watershed off septic systems and hooking them up to the city sewer.
Retiring older septic systems can safeguard watersheds from potential pollution.
Huggins said the city can’t normally pay for private improvements like residential sewer hookups. But this is an OWRB pilot program to target non-point source pollution using federal money, so there’s no cost to the city’s ratepayers.
“We're going to be able to make an improvement in the community that we normally wouldn't be able to make, just due to the legal set up that is the Trust,” Huggins said. “So it's kind of neat that we can team with OWRB on this project.”
Regional Food Bank Needs
Though we're still more than two months out from Thanksgiving, the Regional Food Bank is starting to prepare for the holiday season now.
Austin Prickett with the Regional Food Bank says they can always use three things: friends, food and funds.
During the season, Prickett says the bank has donation matching. Food drives are also common throughout the holidays.
While the holidays are a time of giving, Prickett encourages people to consider the food bank after the season is over.
Prickett says January and February have the lowest volunteer turnout of the year.
“We just would like everyone to keep those living with food insecurity on their minds in the beginning of the year, because hunger is still there in January and February,” says Prickett.
Actor James Garner’s Artifacts Donated To New Tulsa Museum
The newly created OKPOP Museum in Tulsa has acquired artifacts from a major Oklahoma-born movie star.
The museum’s leadership announced Friday they received photographs, props and other mementos of actor James Garner.
Garner’s daughter, Gigi, donated the items.
“My dad was most proud of being an Oklahoman… and I want to make sure that people know that and they recognize that and they remember that,” Gigi Garner said.
Garner was known for hit films like 'The Great Escape.'
Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell praised the up-and-coming museum and hopes it’ll pave the way for an even greater focus on arts in Tulsa.
“We are so blessed in Oklahoma to have the kind of arts scene that we have in this city. Anyone that visits this city are very impressed… people that move here, a big reason they move here is because we invest in the arts,” Pinnell said.
OKPOP is reportedly trying to secure enough funding to open sometime next year.
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