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Following Oklahoma's energy leader

By June 13th, 2022No Comments
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Oklahoma is an energy state in most every way. We are home to massive amounts of known and produced energy for the sake of our state, our country and even the world. We’ve been blessed with these native resources and we are doing great things with them and because of them. 

Yet, even with rich blessings, a state without leadership would lose its way. Fortunately for us, our Oklahoma energies are being led by an outstanding public servant, Mike Ming. 

Gov. Mary Fallin made an outstanding selection in Ming as Oklahoma’s secretary of energy. To most of us, Ming has been a champion for Oklahoma’s full breadth of energy options from the rich resources we extract from beneath our surface, to conserving resources when possible, to harvesting the rich power that blows above us. 

Ming, appointed in January of 2011, has an impressive resume. His broad range of experience makes him both a scholar and keen business professional. He has served as the president of the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America and as an independent natural gas producer as a managing member and principal of K. Stewart Energy Group and K. Stewart Petroleum Corp. Not to mention, he is a registered professional engineer in Oklahoma, an experience that makes his advice to Fallin invaluable. 

Fallin is not the only person who seeks his counsel. He currently serves on the advisory boards for the Stanford School of Earth Sciences and the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas. He has also served in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Future of Natural Gas Study, on the Oklahoma Clean Energy Independence Commission, and as an adjunct professor in Energy Management at the University of Oklahoma. 

Ming was instrumental in helping create the first Energy Plan for Oklahoma, a copy of which remains on my desk. What impresses me most about the plan is that it captures all of Oklahoma’s technological innovations and rich native blessings. It harnesses them in a way that helps forge a bright, clean, and fruitful energy future for Oklahoma. It considers conservation as fully as it considers production, making Oklahoma a leader among the rest. 

Recently, Fallin announced initiatives where several states across the country will be able to purchase natural gas vehicles at a reduced cost. This will help save the state purchasing dollars and fuel costs for its fleet. It’s a win-win for Oklahoma. The environmental benefits to states all across the country as they utilize cleaner-burning natural gas are perhaps immeasurable. Ming’s counsel and guidance has truly helped move our state, and indeed the country, toward an Oklahoma energy future. 

As noted evangelical preacher and author John C. Maxwell once said: “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” 

Among our state’s blessings is a long line of visionary and well-qualified energy secretaries. Thankfully, Ming is truly extraordinary and preparing Oklahoma for an even richer energy future. Ming knows the way and is going the way for Oklahoma. We are wise to follow his lead.

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