Oil

If you fried a turkey this Thanksgiving, you may be wondering what to do with all of that oil?  Sedgwick County wants to remind residents to bring their used turkey oil to the Household Hazardous Waste facility.  It's located at 801 Stillwell in Wichita. The county doesn't charge anything for residents who want to drop off oil or other hazardous waste materials.  It's open today from 9 a.m. Until 3 p.m..  It's also open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.

BP officials say the first of two relief wells being drilled to stop the Gulf oil gusher could be finished by the end of the month, but that's a best-case scenario. Such an optimistic timetable would require ideal conditions. The Obama administration's point man says the backup plan would be transferring the crude to non-producing underwater wells that are miles away. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen says BP would run the flow through pipelines across the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.

Farmers in Kingman County near 20th and SE 130th Avenue noticed a flames and billowing black smoke after lightening struck an oil storage tank Thursday evening. Cheney Fire chief Brad Ewy says emergency crews arrived on the scene and worked to put out the fire before it spread to the surrounding tank batteries. The tank contained salt water and highly flammable drip oil. Cheney firefighters tried to use foam to extinguish the fire in but the flames inside the tank prevented use of the foam.

Could the city strike it rich at 2nd and McLean?  A group has approached city officials about the possibility of oil at the site.  The land is city owned and is the future site of a new library. Mayor Carl Brewer says the group has shown the city older maps of the spot that shows where the oil may be. at.  Oil has been found in Wichita before.   The group is scheduling meetings with the city manager to discuss how to move forward.

Governor Sam Brownback visits western Kansas Wednesday to tour oil and gas facilities. The governor made stops in Hodgeman and Ford Counties. Brownback said he wanted to expand his knowledge on production and activity where different kinds of wells have been installed. The governor said he would like to see Kansas become an "energy state". "We are talking about millions of dollars in new oil drilling in Kansas over the next few years, this creates jobs, creates opportunities and it also helps America become energy independent.

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church was leveled when the Andover tornado hit the area in 1991. Twenty-years later, the church has rebuilt, and the congregation is larger than before.      "God gives you what you need to move along," said Father Mike Baldwin Tuesday afternoon in his sanctuary.  "And we've been blessed. " Father Mike was the pastor at St. Vincent de Paul then.  He still remembers arriving here at midnight, and seeing the destruction by a car's headlights.  "I remember most walking up and seeing a flask of oil.  This particular oil was the oil of healing.  It was a crystal bottle, sitting on the sidewalk, still with some oil in it. "  To the priest, this was highly symbolic.  "I guess I knew from that moment on that we would be okay, that we were in God's hands.

  5-8 oz Parmesan Wedge - Cut in to small chunks 1/3 Cup Olive Oil 2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary Leaves Or 1 Table Spoon Dried Rosemary 4 Cloves Minced Garlic 1 Squeeze fresh lemon Salt & Pepper to taste Heat Olive oil in pan on medium heat. Add minced garlic to begin browning, once the garlic begins to sizzle, add the Rosemary leaves a. Let them "pop" in the oil, and wilt. Being sure they keep their green color, not browning and burning. The whole saute of the garlic and Rosemary should take no more than 3-4 Mins.

Yoshiblue's commercial makes some amazing claims aimed at "classy chefs. " "They say diamonds are a girl's best friend, but who knew they would make the greatest cooking surface ever,” according to the commercial. The Yoshiblue Diamondware skillet says its "nano-ceramic, non-stick surface" is infused with "genuine diamond particles. " "I think I would rather have my diamonds in my jewelry than in my pan,” Denise Dias said. Denise is from the Sedgwick County Extension Office.  She is about to put this diamond technology to work.  We paid nearly $36 for the Yoshiblue skillet--that includes shipping and handling.

by Christina Taylor (TOPEKA, Kan.) He made his money in oil, but Texas billionnaire T. Boone Pickens has a plan to stop America's dependence on it, and it partly depends on the Kansas wind. Pickens visited Topeka Wednesday afternoon for a townhall meeting to campaign for his ideas. He told the crowd the U.S. spends too much money to import oil every year -- $700 billion this year alone. Instead he suggests tapping into resources like the wind and natural gas. Read Pickens' Plan Pickens chose Kansas as one of the states to promote his plan because he considers it one of the great energy sources in the country.

PITTSBURG, Kan. (AP) - Scientists at Pittsburg State University are getting $2 million in federal money to conduct groundbreaking research of algae. The money will be distributed to the university's Kansas Polymer Research Center over three years beginning in September. Pittsburg State says researchers will try to find better ways to create polymers from oil produced by algae. The polymers can be used to create environmentally friendly products such as floor tiles or foam seats for chairs.

Yoshiblue's commercial makes some amazing claims aimed at "classy chefs. " "They say diamonds are a girl's best friend, but who knew they would make the greatest cooking surface ever,” according to the commercial. The Yoshiblue Diamondware skillet says its "nano-ceramic, non-stick surface" is infused with "genuine diamond particles. " "I think I would rather have my diamonds in my jewelry than in my pan,” Denise Dias said. Denise is from the Sedgwick County Extension Office.  She is about to put this diamond technology to work.  We paid nearly $36 for the Yoshiblue skillet--that includes shipping and handling.

Governor Sam Brownback visits western Kansas Wednesday to tour oil and gas facilities. The governor made stops in Hodgeman and Ford Counties. Brownback said he wanted to expand his knowledge on production and activity where different kinds of wells have been installed. The governor said he would like to see Kansas become an "energy state". "We are talking about millions of dollars in new oil drilling in Kansas over the next few years, this creates jobs, creates opportunities and it also helps America become energy independent.

At first it was thought to be an oil field explosion,  but now Reno County authorities say the issue was actually a grass fire. The grass fire is out, but for a short time it prompted road closures on Trail West Road from K-17 to Valley Pride.  The roads were closed because of gas lines in the area. It's unclear right now why there was confusion between an explosion and grass fire.  The Reno County Sheriff previously said residents felt the ground shake within a half mile radius.

A man suffered critical burns while working on a crude oil tanker Monday afternoon in the 4900 block of North Broadway in Park City. The man was welding the trailer at Wichita Trailer Inc.   Authorities believe some sort of gas may have been trapped in the tank and the welding prompted it to explode.  The worker suffered burns to his nose and mouth. The explosion also blew a 10 by 10 hold in the roof of the metal building. The worker was taken to the hospital to be treated for his burns.

New interest has sparked in oil and gas exploration in Kansas.  A day long conference in Dodge City Tuesday focused on the topic. The goal of the event was to help prepare communities for the impact.  Topics included housing, education and public safety. Officials from the Oil and Gas Task Force say although each community is different, these discussions can help regionally.  "We can all take what affects us the most out of it; to the best knowledge and build that network so that we have each other to lean on and to try to pull things together so that we are better prepared," said Task Force Member Joann Knight.

Gary Carpenter built his auto shop in Newton to be as environmentally friendly as he can be. There are no drains in the floors, he doesn't use solvents, and recycles everything he can, even the used dirty oil. It's a new program he started to re-fine oil, something that cuts costs and helps the environment. “It's good for our economy,” he said. “It's just a win-win for me. ... It's a great product. You're helping the environment.” He still has regular oil on hand but every chance he gets tries to persuade his customers to use it. “I had this 90-year old man come through and he said he didn't want used oil in his car. But after I took the time and explained what it is and how good it is for the environment he was on board,” Carpenter said.

Shell Oil partnered with the KU Fire Training School for a training session on how to put out all kinds of fires, from grass fires to oil fires. About 50 firefighters were there, all volunteer, from Harper and Barber County. Most of them have only worked on grass fires and didn't have the training for oil fires. Shell is still in the process of deciding whether or not to drill in south central Kansas but say it's a skill these firefighters should have anyway. "There's a lot of things we don't do in Barber County and oil fires is one of them and it's giving us some hands on training with foam and different propane fuels and stuff," said Barber County Fire Chief Rick Wesley.

Could the city strike it rich at 2nd and McLean?  A group has approached city officials about the possibility of oil at the site.  The land is city owned and is the future site of a new library. Mayor Carl Brewer says the group has shown the city older maps of the spot that shows where the oil may be. at.  Oil has been found in Wichita before.   The group is scheduling meetings with the city manager to discuss how to move forward.

It's the place you go to get property information, and usually the register of deeds office isn't that busy. That's not the case in Kingman County. "Last year we did 85,000 copies at a quarter a page," said Kingman County Register of Deeds Susan Hubbell. "Thats a lot of labor. " A few years ago, the office only printed off about 2000 copies each year. The increase is due to oil and gas companies researching property rights "They are in here searching who owns the land," Hubbell said.

More and more people are buying fish-oil capsules to reduce the risk of heart attack and strokes. They're reportedly the most popular supplement after multivitamins. Consumer Reports just tested 15 top-selling brands purchased in the New York metropolitan area to see whether they contain what they promise and are contaminant-free. All had the amount of omega-3 fatty acids promised on the label. And the levels of dioxin-like PCBs and other contaminants were below the limits set by the U.S. Pharmacopoeia, a nongovernmental standard-setting group.