The fine sand forming miles of dunes proved more trouble than anything to Dusty Coulston since she inherited the Hogg Ranch from her stepfather about two years ago. Often the sand kicked into the air on windy days and poured over fences already in need of repair on the 30,000-acre property north of Monahans.

Defenders of Wildlife reported that satellite images of the mines show about 292 acres of lizard habitat and surrounding buffers have already been disturbed by the sand mines since March. That figure is in-line with the state’s estimate. Early on, the sand mining rush brought worries about the threat of an endangered listing for the lizard that could curb drilling and hinder the sand mines.

Longer laterals, pumping of greater volumes of sand and generally more intensive well development mean oil and gas companies can turn a profit at a lower and lower barrel price, even as costs of services inflate. The average breakeven price for drilling a new well in the Permian Basin is about $46 per barrel, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas reported in a survey of energy firms.

Around February, when oil prices bottomed at about $26 a barrel, Silverado Contracting on Highway 385 found themselves with less than half the 20 workers who turned dirt during the boom. Kevin Shifflet, the yard manager for the company on Highway 385, said they struggled to find 40 hours worth of work in a week.

But as oil prices remain even lower than when he was forced to cut staff, Southall, like so many peers, said he anticipates another lean year. “That’s everyone’s focus right now: Maintain without going out of business,” Southall said. The company is a local manufacturer of fluid heating and transport equipment, one of the many small oilfield businesses in Odessa that exemplifies the trickle-down effect of a drop in oil prices and the men and women who make a career of weathering its booms and busts.

Adam Madrid, right, laughs as his wife Priscilla bites into a cupcake to show their son Isaiah, 1, left, that it is tasty while they and Michael, 6, wait to go to church Monday after Adam came home from work. Adam Madrid, a Key Energy Services employee, works on a surface drilling rig near Crane, so he is able to come home after work.

City officials would have known that, if true, the July complaint was not the first accusation of Long harassing a female employee from his position of power. Long served a month-long suspension a decade ago for sexually harassing a female employee who also accused him of touching her and calling her pet names such as “Bunny Rabbit.”.

An HR report obtained by the OA recommended discipline and a series of reforms that were never enacted, bolstering the legal assistant’s case that Long received special treatment from allies on the City Council. The city is still fighting an open records request for the report. The mayor and the three remaining council members say the findings of the internal investigation were never brought to the full City Council.

Long said that his last day will be Feb. 28, 2018, in a resignation letter read by Mayor David Turner during the Odessa City Council meeting on Tuesday night. In a brief interview with reporters, Long declined to say whether he had been asked to quit but said the sexual harassment complaint played “some factor” in his decision.

The ostensible purpose of the 12-day trip, where Hamilton was briefly accompanied by a top city official, was to study the Minneapolis downtown. But Hamilton refuses to discuss the trip, leaving the questions unanswered of what city business he actually conducted. Then there is the question of whether the new councilman fleeced taxpayers by expensing a vacation to the metropolis where he still has family.

The City Council this year has spent almost as much time outside of the public view during regular meetings where city business is decided as they have in the open. The Tuesday meeting where City Council members violated the Texas Open Meetings Act before sacking Odessa Development Corporation President Jimmy Breaux was the council’s eighth regular meeting of the year.

The plant was sought for the high-skilled jobs it would have created and the billions of dollars it would have invested in the community. But the company struggled with delays and cost overruns amid changes in the energy markets before the federal government pulled support last year, citing missed milestones including a lack of financing.

The Odessa American Monday filed a report with the Odessa Police Department following a posting that appeared on one of Malcolm Hamilton’s Facebook pages. The posting, which the newspaper obtained from multiple sources, comes in the wake of reporting by the newspaper concerning a questionable trip the freshman city councilman took to Minneapolis in January.

Now, the company, Waste Control Specialists, seeks a new windfall in storing highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. The community could see a new boon while WCS, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Valhi, would stand to make billions. But Andrews would also bear new risks by allowing in the more dangerous material.

The lawsuit alleges multiple violations related to a May 9 meeting when the City Council met for about 56 minutes behind closed doors before voting to oust the head of the board overseeing economic development sales tax money. The OA is seeking a court order to prevent future violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act by the City Council.

Municipal Court Judge Dennis Jones said Wednesday he believes the officer lied to him when seeking the second of two search warrants for no-knock raids beginning Jan. 28 at Americas Best Value Inn, 3023 East Highway 80. “It sounds like after the fact that this was an intentional act to mislead,” Jones said, explaining later that he was unaware the search had already happened and that “I’m angry that it’s made the implication that I’m complicit in someone’s wrongdoing.”.