Revenue Accounting Supervisor

Williams Cos. president expresses commitment to Tulsa, calls for investments in education, quality of life. * Oct 21, 2026 Updated Oct 22, 2026 * 1 Tulsa World Capitol Bureau Staff Writer OKLAHOMA CITY - Chad Zamarin, the president of Williams Cos., expressed a strong commitment to Tulsa while speaking to lawmakers at the state Capitol on Tuesday, but also a strong desire to see major quality of life improvements that would make it easier for the Fortune 500 company to attract and retain talented employees. Zamarin was among 10 contributors to an interim study that examined strategies for making Oklahoma more attractive to businesses and the people they employ. The forum was organized by Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa. While Oklahoma has attributes, including its comparatively low cost of living and reputation for being business friendly, that work in its favor, Zamarin and others cited its poor reputation for public education, rising crime and problems associated with homelessness and things like poor mental health care as serious strikes against it. They advised that strategies to adopt more favorable tax policies will not be enough to keep young people in the state or attract new economic investment. People are also reading... The Williams CEO said the company expects to add 1,500 new employees in the coming year but will likely struggle to hire 150 of them in Tulsa. It won't be by choice, but by necessity, he said. "If we could we would hire every one of those jobs right here, (but) the reality is that Oklahoma is not yet attracting the workforce of the future. The talent we need is not being adequately developed locally and is not choosing to move here," he said. "So we do what any growing company does. We hire and grow where the talent is and where the talent wants to be." He asked state lawmakers to consider three priorities for making Oklahoma more competitive. Improving education and workforce development is critical, he said. "Families will not choose to be here if our education system fails to prepare kids for the future," he said. A second priority should be on public safety. "When people choose where to live, public safety is a major factor, and homelessness and crime have become a drag on quality of life," Zamarin said. "Downtown Tulsa has been struggling to grow due to a lack of residential options and an increase in homelessness and crime." Zamarin thanked Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, who was also a contributor to the study, for work that has been accomplished addressing public safety issues. "But the reality is, I can't ask an employee to come to the office before the sun rises nor stay till after the sun sets because it's risky for them to walk to their car parked in our parking garage," he said. "That is not acceptable, and that is the challenge, and people see that when they come to think about joining our company." Zamarin also asked lawmakers to consider ways to strengthen partnerships between businesses, cities, the state and nonprofit organizations and foundations to encourage healthy growth in downtown districts. "Let me be clear. Williams is an Oklahoma company, and we are working hard and investing aggressively to keep it that way," he said. "We're proposing a major reinvestment in downtown Tulsa. Phase one would bring literally thousands of new residents in to downtown. It would include a soccer stadium. It would include two new hotels. It would include two new corporate headquarters in downtown Tulsa. We can do that for about $850 million... That sounds like a lot, but we're thinking too small, I think, as a state. We were just in Kansas City, where they're spending almost $3 billion this year and $9.5 billion between now and the end of the decade, (and) that's a city that's only twice the size of Tulsa." He said priorities at the Capitol shouldn't be on cutting taxes or on providing incentives for corporations. Rather, they should be on making smart investments in education, public safety and in the vibrancy of downtown business districts, which he likened to "beating hearts" vital to the health of Oklahoma's overall economy. "Our goal should be very simple," Zamarin said. "A child born in Oklahoma should never have to look beyond the state borders for the education and opportunity to reach their full potential, and an engineer in Houston weighing an offer from Williams should look at Tulsa and see the obvious choice."

State to grant $48M in 'Energy Dominance' funds, asks for public input. * Dustin Bleizeffer WyoFile.com * Oct 20, 2026 Updated Oct 20, 2026 * Comments Wyoming's top energy shop wants to grant a total $48 million from the state's new Energy Dominance Fund to three companies, and it's asking the public to weigh in on the projects during a comment period that ends Nov. 16. The Wyoming Energy Authority, which administers the grant and loan program, will forward its recommendations, along with public comments, to Gov. Mark Gordon for his approval. The three recommended grants include: * $20 million to Nucleon Fuel for its Fort Union Uranium Conversion facility in Campbell County. The Canadian-headquartered company proposes to "convert uranium concentrate into uranium hexafluoride, the feedstock for commercial uranium enrichment," according to the project summary it submitted to the state. * $15 million to Williams Companies for its Flat Top Compressor Station project in Carbon County. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company proposes to build a 15,000-horsepower compressor station and about 8 miles of pipeline "connecting to Williams' existing Wamsutter gathering system," according to its project summary. * $13 million to WE Soda for its Westvaco Natural Gas Upgrade project in Sweetwater County. The London-based company wants to build a "high-pressure natural gas supply connection from the Williams' MountainWest Overthrust Pipeline system," according to its project summary. The Wyoming Legislature created the Energy Dominance Fund during the most recent legislative session, authorizing up to $105 million for loans and grants to support energy projects in the state. The awards are to be used as matching funds to leverage money from other government and private entities. The pot of money is filled by severance tax revenue from energy extraction, like coal mining and oil and natural gas development. The Energy Authority is also recommending a $969,243 grant - from a separate pot of money, the Energy Matching Funds program - to Arcadia Minerals, a Riverton-based company partnered with Canadian firm Meta Critical Minerals. The grant would help support "testing" to characterize "potential saleable rare earth, titanium and zircon products" at the company's Dugout Creek Project in Washakie County, according to its project summary submitted to the state. The Energy Dominance projects. Nucleon Fuel is hoping to capitalize on a federal push to expand the nation's nuclear fuel supply chain, which relies significantly on foreign sources, as well as enrichment facilities outside the U.S. Domestic uranium production is once again on the rise, and Wyoming is poised to lead the charge with four mines currently in operation, industry leaders say. But once Wyoming mines collect uranium and concentrate it into U-3O8, or yellowcake, it must be shipped out of state for processing. The next step is to convert U-3O8 concentrate into the gas hexafluoride (UF[6]). There's only one facility in the U.S. that does that, and it's in southern Illinois. Nucleon's uranium conversion facility would bring that capability to the Fort Union Industrial Park north of Gillette. The new facility would have the capacity to convert about 15,000 tons annually, adding another link in the nuclear fuel supply chain in the state, according to the company. The plant could be in operation by 2032, it said. Demand for domestic natural gas is also on the rise, and Williams controls one of the largest gas-pipeline matrices in the nation. The company plans to increase gas production in the Wamsutter area, noting that, without expansion, "existing gathering and compression infrastructure is projected to become insufficient, potentially resulting in constrained production, reduced operational efficiency and delayed energy development," it said. Not far away, WE Soda is among a handful of trona mining and soda ash producers in southwest Wyoming hoping to expand production. To survive global market headwinds Wyoming operations need to become as efficient as possible, the company recently told WyoFile. Part of WE Soda's effort is to shift from coal to natural gas to fuel its boilers, which are used to process trona to soda ash. "The project will help maintain the competitiveness of Wyoming-produced soda ash by providing a cost-effective and reliable thermal energy source for current operations in time to replace the economical local coal which will be depleted by the end 2027," the company said. "Conversion to natural gas supports emissions reductions and creates a pathway for future facility expansions that could significantly increase soda ash and specialty products production." Let the news come to you. Get any of our free email newsletters - news headlines, sports, arts & entertainment, state legislature, CFD news, and more. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.