Agricultural News
After 12 Years of State Service, Senator Kim David Runs for Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner
Wed, 15 Jun 2022 12:31:44 CDT
Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, sits down with Oklahoma State Senator, Kim David. After 12 years of state service as a Senator, David has made the decision to run for the statewide office of Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner.
In the state of Oklahoma, The Corporation Commission oversees various facets of energy from the oil and gas industry and renewables to utilities. If elected, David plans to use her experience as Senator and passion for providing the best for Oklahomans to continue to supply reasonable costs of energy and other products back to consumers and companies in the state.
"I started looking at this a little over a year ago whenever we started dealing with the big winter storm that hit last February," David said. "We went through a period of time where natural gas went from $2.50 and $3 a cubic foot to over $1800 a cubic foot."
The state experienced rolling brownouts, David said, and many people had difficulty keeping the lights on. In addition to this, she added, there was a significant spike in natural gas prices.
"The fallout from that we started dealing with is figuring out how to prevent families and businesses from going bankrupt and having to pay this huge cost for natural gas," David said. "There were many families that would receive a natural gas bill for $1800 dollars. Some people can pay it, but others absolutely could never pay that."
David said small businesses and towns that owned small utility companies were also implicated due to not being able to afford the price of natural gas at the time.
"We started working with the Corporation Commission and the Attorney General's office," David said. "I had a little bit of experience in finding out how the Southwest Power Pool works just because of being the chairman of the GRDA (Grand River Damn Authority) taskforce."
David's relations with the Corporation Commission and the GRDA brought to light, she said, how important it is to understand the Southwest Power Pool and how it works for Oklahomans.
"I started becoming really involved and interested in it," David said. "I've always known that the Corporation Commission regulates the oil and gas industry, our pipelines, transportation, and even cotton gins. I knew that they regulated the utilities, but it really comes down to so much more than that when you start talking about things like that winter storm and making sure that we have the right policies in place to protect the people of Oklahoma."
The GRDA, David said is a state-owned utility that sells power to the public.
"It's been great to see how they (GRDA) have turned around in the past few years and have been an intricate part of Oklahoma in that area of our state in working well for the people," David said.
Oklahoma is known for low utility prices, David said, and she feels like the state has done a good job of being able to have that as a resource for consumers.
The Corporation Commission also handles issues such as preventing earthquakes, David said.
"About 86 percent of the economy in the state of Oklahoma is regulated by the Corporation Commission," David said.
After serving 12 years in the Senate, David said she learned she enjoys being able to make a difference for Oklahomans. As Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner, she would look forward to continuing that, she added.
"The Corporation Commission has a huge impact on the economy, and I feel like since I have been that policy maker over the last 12 years, I understand that relationship between regulations as well as good policy," David said. "I would like to use that experience to continue to make a difference. It will be different now to be on the other side with the Corporation Commission, but I also think coming from the legislature, I will be able to come over and work with the current legislature at that time to make sure we have good policy in place."
Click the LISTEN BAR below to listen to Ron Hays and Senator Kim David on David's plan to continue serving Oklahomans as Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Candidate.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
