Joe Wertz
Joe was a founding reporter for StateImpact Oklahoma (2011-2019) covering the intersection of economic policy, energy and environment, and the residents of the state. He previously served as Managing Editor of Urban Tulsa Weekly, as the Arts & Entertainment Editor at Oklahoma Gazette and worked as a Staff Writer for The Oklahoman. Joe was a weekly arts and entertainment correspondent for KGOU from 2007-2010. He grew up in Bartlesville, Okla. and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.
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Aubrey McClendon, one of the pioneers of the shale oil revolution in the U.S. died in a car crash Wednesday at age 56 years. McClendon was indicted Tuesday on charges he conspired to rig the bidding process on oil and gas leases in Oklahoma.
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Low energy prices are good for consumers but bad for some businesses — and the states that rely on them. Oklahoma lawmakers say there may be a "revenue failure" soon. The state has a $900 million budget hole.
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Oklahoma's earthquake boom is now a national security threat. No damage has been reported, but operators at the hub are on high alert for a disruption that would ripple through the U.S. energy market. -
Oklahoma is home to bison who roam freely on the last stretches of open prairie. Once a year, the bison are rounded up, vaccinated and de-wormed. It's part of the effort to bring back the herds.
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Oklahoma set a state record last year with more than 5,000 earthquakes. This year, the state is poised to have even more. Now oil and gas regulators have taken notice and are working to curb them. -
The U.S. Geological Survey issues a report Thursday on quakes linked to oil and gas drilling, but Oklahoma has said that the industry's wastewater disposal is the cause. What's unknown is a solution. -
Public meetings are underway in Oklahoma and Arkansas to get input on a high-voltage transmission line. The U.S. hasn't added a line like this since the 1970s, but not everyone is happy about it.
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Big-energy states are hoping the cheap oil is just a blip. In Oklahoma, the head of a catering firm delivering food to oil field workers worries that "$40-a-barrel oil? It's going to shut everything." -
The state produces a lot of energy, but environmentalists and the oil industry are joining to combat wind power companies as they try to expand. -
StateImpact Oklahoma's Joe Wertz reports on a new study that links a "swarm" of earthquakes to four specific, high-volume oil and gas industry disposal wells. It's one of several reports that show oil and gas activity could be causing a rise in earthquake activity.
