2023: Grand River Dam Authority – Developing a Fecal Pollution Monitoring Program to Protect Human Health and Reduce Nutrient Loading in Oklahoma Water

 

In 2017, we started developing a molecular source tracking program for identifying sources of fecal pollution in waterbodies so we could make informed management decisions to protect human health and mitigate nutrient loading in Northeast Oklahoma watersheds. In May 2023, we published our first peer-reviewed study in the international journal: Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, validating the scientific legitimacy of this program. We have been using this program to assist sister agencies with illegal and accidental human waste discharges into streams and lakes, as well as, to make informed watershed management decisions for mitigating agricultural fecal pollution in rural areas.

 

 

 

2022: Public Service Company of Oklahoma Oil and Gas Energy Efficiency Program

PSO initiated (2019– present) an energy efficiency program for the oil and gas industry to support a vital and hard-to-reach business sector important to the Oklahoma economy. The program provided rebates and engineering consulting services to improve operations by installing electric energy conservation measures and other non-energy environmental benefits. The program aims to target owners and operators of active oil and gas production wells in PSO’s service territory. To date PSO has provided these customers with $600,601 in rebates.

The program provided rebates up to 75% of the cost for measures listed above.  During the 2019-2021 cycle PSO provided $600,601 in rebates to customers and saved $420,000 on annual electric bills for the reduction of 5.3 million kWh and 583 kW per year.

PSO’s energy efficiency program must be approved by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission every 3 years.  The OCC has approved the oil and gas program for the current portfolio (2022-2024) based on the success achieved in the previous portfolio; therefore, the program is financially self-sustaining. As the industry continues to face challenges post-pandemic, PSO has an offering to help control costs.  PSO will continue to reach new customers and build on the relationship we have established with service provides to continue transforming the market.  

2021:  OG&E Vegetative Management Browse Delivery for Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens

 

OG&E has partnered with Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden to provide browse material from vegetation management activities as supplemental feed and enhance social activities of zoo animals. The browse program began with elephants and quickly expanded to bears, apes and hoof-stock. The partnership has expanded to providing “furniture” in the form of tree trunks and large branches for large avian species, as well as wire spools for goats. This partnership was initiated in April 2020 as a means to reduce the amount of vegetation waste going into the landfills while providing food for zoo animals.

2020:  ONEOK Lindsay Booster Emission Reductions

The natural gas gathering and processing segment recently completed a project to replace natural gas compressors, which pressurize natural gas and enable it to efficiently flow through pipelines, with electric equipment at ONEOK’s Lindsay Booster Station in Lindsay, Oklahoma. Since the new electric engines produce no combustion-related emissions, ONEOK expects to reduce emissions by approximately 42,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) annually. The initial project planning took place in 2018 with project completion in June 2019.

A direct result of the Lindsay Booster Station becoming more efficient led to modifications at ONEOK’s Maysville Gas Plant. Originally, natural gas-driven engines pushed gas upstream from Lindsay to Maysville where Maysville would then compress before processing. The new electric equipment at Lindsay allows for enough high-pressure compression to bypass the compressors at Maysville before processing. This change allowed for the opportunity to reduce emissions at both facilities.

Due to the complete switch to electric, Lindsay went from a Title V source to a minor source of emissions. These major change at Lindsay and the compressor bypass at Maysville greatly reduced ONEOK’s overall greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), as well. In fact, this project alone reduces ONEOK’s CO2e emissions by approximately 42,000 metric tons of CO2e annually. This is equivalent to removing the CO2e emissions associated from 9,000 cars each year.  View Presentation

2019:  American Environmental Landfill:  A Waste To Energy Landfill

Anderson Elementary School superintendent, Brett Banker, has faced two consecutive years of budget cuts and, as a result, called upon Todd Green at American Environmental Landfill for help. He asked him if the landfill would help Anderson Elementary School with our electric bill. And today – by helping keep the lights on!  Anderson Elementary School will continue receiving a donation from AEL and Montauk Energy from the methane gas produced from the landfill for the next 50 years even if the landfill were to shut down.

 

2018:  AES Shady Point Derived Fuels Project

 

AES Shady Point (AESSP) located in LeFlore County conducted a test burn in 2017 of Tire Derived Fuels (TDF). With the involvement of DEQ and state tire processors AESSP purchased and utilized car tires from Oklahoma to replace some coal while reducing emissions, coal ash and reducing the amount of processed car tires going to state landfills or illegally dumped in streams.

 

 

2017: ONEOK Mustang Pipeline Project

ONEOK partnered with the Friends of Lake Overholser/Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge community organization for the 12th annual clean-up of Lake Overholser and Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge where 15 employees and family members of ONEOK paddled through water and combed through wooden areas to collect refuse and recyclable materials. Employees filled up dozens of trash bags with refuse, leaving public-use areas free of litter and hazards.

In addition, the Mustang Pipeline project team volunteered to construct fish habitat structures as part of a community outreach effort with the Oklahoma City Game and Fish Commission and through a partnership with the H.B. Parsons Fish Hatchery.  A group of 15 employees from ONEOK and Enercon, the project’s environmental contractor, spent an afternoon building the habitats in late 2016. The habitats were delivered to the hatchery earlier this year (2017) and will be placed at multiple locations within local city lakes, such as Edwards Park Fishing Lake, Kitchen Lake and the Oklahoma River. These types of habitats are designed to stay in place longer than a natural brush pile and are made primarily of flexible pipe and weighted with concrete blocks or cement. The weights anchor the habitats to the bottom of the lake, and the “spider” arms formed by the pipe provide the cover for the fish.

2016: Coffeyville-Burbank Carbon Dioxide Capture and Sequestration

Chaparral was recently awarded the Frank Condor Award for Environmental Excellence by the Environmental Federation of Oklahoma for demonstrating initiative and leadership in its pioneering efforts to capture man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) at Coffeyville and permanently sequester it in the company’s North Burbank enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project.

Since mid-2013, Chaparral has captured 25 to 45 million cubic feet of CO2 per day from the CVR Fertilizer Plant in Coffeyville, Kansas. That equates to more than 1.9 million tons of CO2 that would have been vented into the atmosphere. Instead it is being captured and permanently sequestered into the Burbank field near Shidler, Oklahoma. This is more CO2 than is released into the atmosphere by 440,000 cars each year.

2015: Williams (Access OA) – Environmental Restoration and Conservation Program

In 2013, the Vice President of Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) for Access Midstream (Access) established a program to conduct voluntary restoration and conservation projects within the company’s operating areas to offset the effects of midstream oil and gas infrastructure development. Access was acquired by Williams in 2014; however, the program continues in the legacy Access Operating Area (Access OA). Since 2013, voluntary projects in OK, PA, OH, and WY have preserved and/or restored sensitive species habitat, improved water quality, reintroduced sensitive species, preserved native rangeland, and supported environmental education. None of the projects were required by regulations or permits.

2014Waste Management Oklahoma – Moseley Road Sanitary Landfill Superfund Delisting Project

This project was innovated both from the aspect of conducting a Superfund remediation at a landfill while the landfill was operational and using a new technology not only to develop renewable fuel but to clean up air and groundwater.  This technology can be transferred to other industries and applications.  The key point to this technology is the ability to take dirty methane gas and economically produce renewable goods.  

 

 

 

Year Winner Project Name Secondary Winners
2024      
2023 Grand River Dam Authority Developing a Fecal Pollution Monitoring Program to Protect Human Health and Reduce Nutrient Loading in Oklahoma Water OG&E – Tire Derived Fuel at River Valley Power Plant

Georgia-Pacific – Paper Machine Cleaning Solvent Reduction Initiative

CVR Energy – Wynnewood Renewable Diesel Unit

2022 Public Service Company of Oklahoma Oil and Gas Efficiency Program GRDA – Developing Watershed Conservation Program to Improve Long term Water Quality

OG&E – Pollinator Habitats

Williams – Williams Greenhouse Gas QMRV & Next Gen Program

 

2021

 

OG&E  Vegetative Management Browse Delivery for Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Gardens Valero – Ardmore Monarch Butterfly Habitat

Western Farmers Electric Cooperative – Bottom Ash Closure & Repurpose Project (Hugo Power Plant)

2020 ONEOK Lindsay Booster Emission Reductions Western Farmers Electric Cooperative –  Oklahoma Electric Vehicle Charging Network
2019 American Environmental Landfill A Waste to Energy Landfill ONEOK – Pollinator Habitat Projects

ONE Gas – Natural Gas Conversion & Utilization

ONEOK – Environmentally-friendly Cathodic Protection Ground Bed Fill

ONEOK – Remote Monitor Implementation in Cathodic Protection

2018 AES Shady Point Tire Derived Fuels Goodyear – Hazardous Waste Reduction – Acid

OGE – Mustang Energy Center Zero Emissions

One Gas – Methane Challenge

ONEOK – Single Stream Recycling Success

PSO – Small Business Energy Solutions

Williams – Arbuckle Springs WMA

2017 ONEOK Mustang Pipeline Project Waste Management of Oklahoma
2016 Chaparral Energy Enhanced oil recovery Holly Refining and Marketing – Integration Project

OneGas Storm – Water runoff

OGE Energy Corp. – Zero Harm

WFEC – Butterfly/ pollinator project

ONEOK – Low volume Wastewater reuse

Valero Refinery – Waste reduction project

2015  Williams (Access OA) Environmental Restoration and Conservation Program Covanta Tulsa Renewable Energy, LLC – Oklahoma Mercury Thermostat Recycling Initiative

American Waste Control – Mr. Murph Recycling / Waste to Energy Program

2014  Waste Management of Oklahoma  Moseley Road Sanitary Landfill Superfund Delisting Project OGE Energy Corp -Wood Pole and Wood Waste Re-purposing

Holly Refining & Marketing/ Covanta – Sustainable Energy from Waste

2013 Bama Companies Bama Zero Waste Landfill – Journey: From Trash to Cash – View Presentation Koch Nitrogen Company, LLC – Minimizing and Recapturing Anhydrous Ammonia Emissions
2012 Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. Positive Energy® Smart Grid Program – View Presentation  
2011 LaFarge Industrial Ecology for a Sustainable Future project The Bama Companies, Inc. – Bama Recycling Projects

Enogex Products LLC – Calumet Refurbishment Project

ONEOK Gas Storage LLC (OGS) – OGS-Depew TEG Dehydration Unit Control

2010 AEP Public Service Company of Oklahoma Deep Fork National Wildlife Refuge Carbon Sequestration Project LaFarge – Developing Industrial Ecology

Terra Nitrogen, L.P. – Greenhouse Gas Abatement Project

Spirit AeroSystems – Zero Municipal Landfill

2009 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company –Download presentation Solvent and Landfill Elimination Program OG&E – Lesser Prairie Chicken Conservation MOA with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
2008 Spirit Aerosystems, Inc. Aerostructures Waste Minimization Project Sunoco, Inc. Tulsa Refinery – 2008 Well Redevelopment ProjectBP America Production Company – Electrification of the Red Oak Central Compressor Facility in Latimer County, OklahomaHolcim (USA), Inc – Opt for Green..A Grass Roots Movement in Conservation
2007 Terra Nitrogen, LP – Verdigris Plan Air Emissions Condenser & Recovery Unit Enogex Products Corporation’s Wetumka Gas Processing Plant – Wetumka Emissions Reduction ProjectTerra Industries, Inc. – Ammonium Wastewater Nitrification Treatment Unit
2006 Weyerhaeuser Company – Valliant Facility Clean Condensate Alternative for HAP Emissions Reduction Project John Zink Company – Compact Low NO x Process BurnerPublic Service Company of Oklahoma – The Tulsa Wave: A Public, Private and Nature PartnershipFort James Operating Company Muskogee Mill – Reducing Ammonia ReleasesHolcim, Inc. – Bio-Diesel – Putting the Fat in the Fire!
2005 Georgia-Pacific Corporation Fuzzy Filter Effluent Recycle Project AEP/Public Service Company of Oklahoma – Wind Power for PSO CustomersBridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, LLC – HAP-Free in ThreeJohn Zink Company – Ultra Low-NOx BurnersPublic Service Company of Oklahoma – PSO Northeastern Station 3 & 4 Reduction of Opacity EmissionsWeyerhaeuser Company – Alternative Cover for Solid Waste Disposal Facility
2004 Sinclair Oil Corporation   BP America Production CompanyNORIT Americas, Inc. Atlantic Richfield Company
2003 BP America Production Company Produced Water Project – Recylcing and Resuing Water Produced from Wells for Irrigation Oklahoma Natural Gas Company – 2003 MTTA “Free Bus Ride” SponsorshipONEOK/RFS Consulting – ONEOK’s Implementation of RFS’s Environmental Management Information System (REMIS)
2002 Holcim (USA) When The Rubber Meets the Road  
2001 Dayton Tire Company Wildlife Habitat Development Project BP America, Inc. – ISO 14001 Certification of Upstream Oil and Gas Projects in OklahomaKerr-McGee Corporation – Easter Oklahoma Environmental Excellence Program
2000 Phillips Petroleum Company   Dayton Tire – Waste to Landfill ReductionOGE Energy Corp – Green Team Initiatives