Oneok reclamation efforts continue

Addressing concern from local landowners whose property now houses part of the Elk Creek Pipeline, representatives from Oneok last week spoke with the county commissioners to explain that the restoration project is far from complete.

The aim, they said, is to restore the properties to exactly how they appeared before the pipeline was installed, leaving the landowners whole. However, the weather this year has been “incredibly challenging” for new grass.

The land was seeded in the fall of 2020 and, so far this year, the contractor has performed mowing and weed spraying and will be coming back through to reseed on areas where the grass has had issue coming up. This was originally planned for earlier in the year, but delayed when it became clear in June that a drought was imminent in this area.

The operations group has meanwhile been pushed to work with landowners to ensure they are properly dealt with. The commissioners agreed that communication with landowners has been one of their big concerns.

“You might want to step that up a bit, that goes a long way,” cautioned Commissioner Fred Devish, later adding, “You may not be able to tell them what they want to hear, but go ahead and listen to them anyway.”

Danette Welsh of Oneok agreed that this has been a conversation internally over the last week, with company reps agreeing, “We need to be more consistent.”

The current plan is to seed this fall because grass appears to respond better at that time of the year as it can lay there all winter long and then respond when conditions change in the spring.

They said seeding will take place within the next 30-40 days and will be wrapped up November 21, after which it will be given a year to grow and establish before Oneok implements a weed removal and management program.