Oklahoma’s New Energy Secretary Meets With Federal Counterparts In Washington DC

Oklahoma’s new power secretary, Ken McQueen, who was appointed by Governor Stitt to switch the retiring Ken Wagner in September, is visiting the nation’s capital this week for the primary time in his new function.

Secretary McQueen has 40 years of industry-related expertise, working on the EPA, within the personal sector, and in academia. However he felt it was necessary to come back to re-introduce himself to Washington as Oklahoma’s Secretary of Vitality and Surroundings.

“It’s been two days of morning-to-evening conferences,” mentioned McQueen in an interview Wednesday, “so we’ve made use of mainly each minute of time that we’ve had obtainable right here in DC.”

McQueen had conferences with administration officers, together with on the Division of the Inside. Governor Stitt has inspired all of his cupboard secretaries to journey frequently to Washington to have interaction with their federal counterparts.

He mentioned he additionally visited with every member of the state’s congressional delegation. “They have been very encouraging of our priorities in Oklahoma,” McQueen mentioned.

These priorities, he mentioned, embrace being chosen as one in every of not less than 4 hydrogen hubs promised within the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation.

“We submitted our preliminary grant utility November 4th to DOE (Division of Vitality),” McQueen mentioned.

Oklahoma partnered with Arkansas and Louisiana in submitting the appliance for what they’re calling Venture HALO. McQueen mentioned the primary spherical of cuts on this $8 billion clear power sweepstakes might be introduced later this month.

“We consider that Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Arkansas, sitting in the course of america,” mentioned McQueen, “is ideally suited to land a few of this funding, and contribute to shifting hydrogen ford as a future gas supply.”

One other precedence, McQueen mentioned, is making use of to his previous boss, the EPA, for primacy over class VI wells, that are used for injecting C-O-2 into deep rock formations.

“This can permit corporations eager about carbon sequestration in Oklahoma to safe a allow by the Oklahoma regulatory course of,” McQueen defined, “fairly than the federal course of.”

Whether or not Oklahoma is granted primacy might take 18 to 24 months to find out, which is one motive McQueen had scheduled a gathering with EPA regulators for Wednesday afternoon, to see if there is likely to be a option to velocity that up.