Believe it or not, plastic straws aren’t the only things harming and killing turtles. Along with a host of other plastic products and lax regulations on huge corporations, a massive illegal turtle trade network — yes, a black market for turtles — is also a major threat. In fact, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation is […]
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To the future!
As we celebrate Oklahoma Gazette’s 40th anniversary, another milestone has recently passed that is of a more private nature. It has been just over one year since I purchased Tierra Media Group, the parent company of Oklahoma Gazette, from founder Bill Bleakley. And in many ways the journey to this place was personal and a parallel to […]
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Chicken-Fried News: You’ve heard this one, right?
Boy meets girl, boy asks girl to marry him, boy goes on to make a fortune, boy and girl tire of each other, boy and girl get a divorce. Well, boy and girl never signed a prenuptial agreement, and now, rather than the optimistic kids they were, they’re cynical adults with around $20 billion dollars […]
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Tom Tom, clubbed
Credit: Brad Gregg Apparently, that was just a warm-up act. Now, the news agency is examining SandRidge Energy and its CEO, Tom Ward. In a recent story, Reuters showed how some practices at SandRidge didn’t differ much from those at Chesapeake, which Ward had co-founded with McClendon. Reuters reported that Ward received $75 million in […]
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This week at the ’Peake
Credit: Brad Gregg First, the taxes. According to a report in Bloomberg News, Chesapeake has paid very little of the taxes owed on $5.5 billion it’s made since its founding. The reason rests with a law — written back when people were still mostly getting around on horse and buggy — that allows oil and […]
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As the well turns
Credit: Brad Gregg Meanwhile, the latest kick to the well head for Chesapeake came in a Reuters story yesterday showing that Chesapeake possibly worked with a competitor to suppress land prices on its oil and gas plays. According to emails obtained by Reuters, Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon had explicit knowledge of his company working with […]
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It’s a gusher!
Brad Gregg Revelations continue to percolate from Reuters, the news agency that spurred the headaches for McClendon last month when it reported on his $1.1 billion in personal loans to pay for a CEO perk. More recently, Reuters showed that McClendon had Chesapeake’s permission to trade in commodities, even though a 2009 contract indicated he […]
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Setting the record straight
Both the Reuters story and the Gazette column incorrectly suggest the lease brokers contracted by Chesapeake in Michigan were engaged in inappropriate practices. That was not the case. As reported in the Reuters story, the use of independent lease brokers is a standard and legal practice in the oil and gas industry. The Michigan agreements […]
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The ol’ shell game?
Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon may be learning that lesson, as well. According to a Reuters investigative report, Chesapeake has been setting up shell companies — businesses with no real operations and which exist only on paper — to secure leases from landowners in Michigan. The tactic keeps competitors from sniffing around on potentially […]
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The ol’ shell game?
Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon may be learning that lesson, as well. According to a Reuters investigative report, Chesapeake has been setting up shell companies — businesses with no real operations and which exist only on paper — to secure leases from landowners in Michigan. The tactic keeps competitors from sniffing around on potentially […]