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
Fire Earth 