The father and son who run Thornton Drilling Company moved their two drilling rigs to Odessa from Oklahoma about five years ago to seek their piece of a Permian Basin oil boom. And they found one, building a company of about 50 employees as drilling surged. But now an oil price plummet that shows no signs of stopping threatens their success like that of many of their peers.
But the City Council still faces key decisions over the water supply, at a time of internal discord. A more imminent water project might be investing in a new treatment system for the city’s water plant with a goal of making the notoriously chalky water supply taste better. The city is armed with about $120 million that the city is expected to earn over the next 11 years by selling treated wastewater to the oil company Pioneer Natural Resources.
Discovery of illegal disposal of oilfield waste prompts investigations, worry of wider pollution. Ty Edwards was on a routine trip to one of the hundreds of the Middle Pecos Groundwater District’s monitoring wells when he noticed the dead mesquite and the salty oil smell that he recognized instantly as a produced water spill.
On Thursday, the groundwater district canceled its March 15 meeting, citing little work that required board action. The owner of the water is Fort Stockton Holdings, owned by the family of Midland oilman Clayton Williams. Today, the family uses that water, from the Leon-Belding field, to irrigate agriculture.
Work on the drilling rigs began to slow in November for Claire Cutshaw. By the end of January, she basically waited by the phone. And so on Monday, the 45-year-old mudlogger resigned from Weatherford International and started to pack. Other oilfield workers told her the winter typically gets slower as budgets run out and gas prices drop.
But two years into the city-backed program, the board responded during a budget workshop Thursday with plans to increase funding for the effort that they describe as a long-term investment in the City of Odessa’s future. They also decided to budget $25,000 for the estimated cost of a headhunter to replace the volunteer chairman, Raymond Chavez.
In 2011, board members of the Odessa Development Corporation faced a dilemma: Should they fund the Hispanic Chamber amid concerns of commingled funds and poor track records bringing businesses into the city? Current and former board members recall a debate over whether to completely defund the organization.
Mayor David Turner speaks about the benefits of buying new solid waste truck bodies from Kuzzy International out of Chihuahua, Mexico, during a delivery ceremony Sept. 22, 2016, at city hall. City leaders touted receipt of the new truck as a significant step for the Mexico Initiative project, which is designed to diversify Odessa's growth and economy by developing relationships with Mexican business owners and encouraging them to bring new jobs and opportunities to Odessa.
Ector County has never received sales tax money, and therefore could not have later given it to MCH despite popular belief. In March of 1990, commissioners unanimously agreed to support the Ector County Hospital District Board in its bid for a 1 percent sales tax. By approving a resolution in 1990 to not seek sales tax, county officials essentially supported MCH’s bid to get the sales tax rebate money.
Nearly 400 items at the Machinery Auctioneers event this month sold in about six hours at a total of more than $3 million. In terms of sales volume, it was relatively modest auction — one around Christmas turned about $4.5 million worth of inventory in a day. The San Antonio-based company once held auctions every couple months in the Permian Basin.
Wink Sink No. 1, as it’s called, appeared in 1980. The bigger and more active Wink Sink No. 2 opened in 2002. And they keep expanding. County officials keep an eye out, preparing should the sinks envelop nearby roadways or oil production equipment. In the meantime, geologists keep studying the Wink Sinks, even though funds for a comprehensive effort dried up in 2010, and signs posted around the oil leases that surround the sinks warn of “Unstable Ground.”.
Odessa police charged 17-year-old James Gabriel McDonald with capital murder in the early morning shooting deaths of his parents, 52-year-olds Jana Lou McDonald and James Gregory McDonald, the Odessa president of Security Bank. Steve LeSueur, police spokesman, said investigators were still trying to determine what led to the shooting, which was reported at 4:56 a.m.
None of the 15 onboard the bus emerged uninjured. Two corrections officers, including the driver, and eight male prisoners died in the wreck, Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials said. The remaining passengers, a corrections officer and four prisoners, survived with severe injuries. The prisoners were handcuffed in pairs on the bus without seatbelts during a minimum-security transport to the Rogelio Sanchez State Jail in El Paso from a transfer unit in Abilene, TDCJ officials said.
The float, a flat-bed truck with chairs on top, carried 26 people: 12 veterans, 12 spouses and two civilian escorts. The wreck happened at 4:36 p.m., scattering victims near the intersection of West Industrial Avenue and South Garfield Street, authorities said. The circumstances of the wreck remained unclear, and the investigation is ongoing.
Chef Alejandro Barrientos asked the city to reconsider an ordinance that he said undercut the investment he made in his food truck, Curb Side Bistro 2014, in an effort to follow the existing rules. His grievance was with an amended ordinance that went into effect last month, requiring food trucks to move every 24 hours.
>> Consider a resolution to allow the city to accept a proposed right-of-way dedication from ICA Development for 80 feet of right of way in Section 8, Block 41. >> Consider approving the Feb. 23 council minutes and minutes from a March 1 workshop. >> Consider final approval of a request by the City of Odessa for original zoning to Light Commercial on a roughly 7.64 acre tract in Section 35, Block 42, near the intersection of Rochester Avenue and Snyder Street.
Odessa American
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Corey Paul
City government and business reporter at the Odessa American newspaper.