‘Hammhead’ Oil CEO Wanted Quake Scientists Fired

Sent by a reader in Oklahoma

Harold couldn’t give a ham about Oklahoma

The billionaire CEO of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources Inc., Harold (hammhead) Hamm, told a dean at the University of Oklahoma last year that he wanted several seismologists there dismissed because they were researching links between oil and gas activity and the state’s nearly 400-fold increase in earthquakes, Bloomberg reported on Friday citing the dean’s e-mail recounting the conversation.

Harold Hamm is Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Continental Resources. He co-founded and serves as Chairman of the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance.  Forbes Magazine has ranked Mr. Hamm No. 24 on “The Forbes 400” list of the richest people in America and No. 96 out of 1,826 on its list of “The World’s Billionaires.” Source: Continental Resources, Inc.

[Mitt Romney, the 2012 presidential candidate, named Hamm as his energy adviser, prompting Hamm to make substantial monetary and advisory contributions to the failed election effort. —Editor]

Hamm, the billionaire founder and CEO of Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources, who is a major donor to the university, also the home of the Oklahoma Geological Survey, has vigorously disputed the report that he tried to pressure the survey’s scientists. “I’m very approachable, and don’t think I’m intimidating,” Hamm was quoted as saying in an interview with EnergyWire, an industry publication, that was published on May 11. “I don’t try to push anybody around.”

Researchers have discovered the re-injection of drilling and fracking wastewater into disposal walls is most probably causing the 400-fold increase in Oklahoma earthquakes.

“Mr. Hamm is very upset at some of the earthquake reporting to the point that he would like to see select OGS staff dismissed,” wrote Larry Grillot, the dean of the university’s Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy, in a July 16, 2014, e-mail to colleagues at the university. Hamm also expressed an interest in joining a search committee charged with finding a new director for the geological survey, according to Grillot’s e-mail. And, the dean wrote, Hamm indicated that he would be “visiting with Governor [Mary] Fallin on the topic of moving the OGS out of the University of Oklahoma.”   Read more…

Editor’s Notes

• For slightly less obvious reasons, it took everyone involved about 10 months to report the incident.

• It’s also becoming increasingly more obvious to everyone concerned why  corporation and wealthy individuals are paying Google and WordPress to suppress (filter, bury and block) content published on this blog.

 Related Links

• Statement on Oklahoma Seismicity: OGS April 24, 2015
• Planet Oklahoma: Avg 6.7 Quakes Strike Each Day! April 17, 2015
• Ohio Finally Links Fracking to Earthquakes April 12, 2014

Washington Declares Statewide Drought Emergency

Glacier lilies blooming on Olympic Peninsula, instead of 200cm of snow

Gov. Inslee declared a statewide drought emergency for Washington on Friday. Snowpack is at historic lows, rivers are dwindling and irrigation districts are forced to cut off water to farmers. 

Snowpack in the mountains has dropped to less than 16 percent of normal levels statewide.

On May 1, the Natural Resources Conservation Service found 11 snow sites in Washington that are snow free for the first time ever. Of the 98 snow sites the Conservation Service measured in Washington, 66 of them are currently snow free.

In April, 78 percent of streams statewide were running “below or much below normal,” with some already at historic lows, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

“We’re really starting to feel the pain from this snowpack drought,” Inslee said. “Impacts are already severe in several areas of the state. Difficult decisions are being made about what crops get priority water and how best to save fish.”

Crop loss resulting from the drought is projected at $1.2 billion this year, said the Washington Department of Agriculture.

• To protect crops in the state’s most productive agricultural region — the Yakima Basin—irrigation districts are turning off water for weeks at a time to try to extend water supplies longer into the summer.

• In the Walla Walla region, water is being shifted from creek to creek to keep water flowing for steelhead, Chinook and bull trout. Fish are even being hauled farther upstream to cooler water.

• On the Olympic Peninsula, instead of 80 inches of snow now, flowers like glacier lilies are blooming.

• The Department of Natural Resources expects more early-season and higher-elevation wildfires amid the continuing drought..

Notable quotes…

“We’re really starting to feel the pain from this snowpack drought. Impacts are already severe in several areas of the state. Difficult decisions are being made about what crops get priority water and how best to save fish.” Gov. Inslee

“This drought is unlike any we’ve ever experienced. Rain amounts have been normal but snow has been scarce. And we’re watching what little snow we have quickly disappear.” Washington Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon

State of Emergency Declared on March 13, 2015

Inslee declared a drought emergency for three Washington regions on March 13, 2015 when statewide snowpack  averaged 27 percent of normal. The proclamation was for the Olympic Peninsula, on the east side of the central Cascade Mountains including Yakima and Wenatchee, and the Walla Walla region, which are vital to apple and wine production, said the governor’s office.