Jim Roth is a Director and Chair of the firm’s Clean Energy Practice.
Jim Roth, Phillips Murrah Director and Chair of the Firm’s Clean Energy Practice, was quoted in a Journal Record article by Sarah Terry-Cobo regarding a House Bill that seeks to create an 11-member task force to examine Oklahoma’s Corporation Commission is structure and funding.
Read Roth’s comments from the article below:
OKLAHOMA CITY – Utilities, drillers, and telecommunications companies could have an opportunity to scrutinize one of their regulators.
State Rep. Weldon Watson said it’s time to take a closer look at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and give those directly affected by the agency a chance to suggest changes. But at least one industry trade group representative questioned the timing and the need to dig into the agency.
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Jim Roth, clean energy practice group director at Phillips Murrah, said reviewing the agency is an excellent idea.
“This is overdue,” he said. “Does the agency have all it needs structurally to function in the modern era?”
The agency and its staff of about 400 do an incredible job for very little money, Roth said. Often, some of the best employees are hired by the industries they regulate, he said.
Roth was a commissioner, serving from 2007 to 2010. He said he assumes the bill was brought with the best intentions to help the agency and the state get it right.
However, the proposed task force should be broader, he said.
“I don’t see one member of the task force without a conflict to the industry,” Roth said. “It’s important that Oklahomans not employed by these companies should have a voice.”