News from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Patrick K. Petree

OKLAHOMA CITY – William R. Burkett, active in law in Oklahoma since 1950, has been named general counsel for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, effective Feb. 1.

Burkett succeeds Lawrence R. Edmison, general counsel since April 1994, who was named special projects officer for environmental issues and law, including liaison with other state agencies involved in environmental regulation.

The Corporation Commission has environmental quality responsibilities related to oil and gas drilling and production, petroleum storage tanks and underground injection of oil field chemicals and waste materials. The agency’s environmental responsibilities were increased with the adoption of the new statutory Title 27A, which created the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality and set a coordinating framework for state environmental regulatory activities.

Jay T. Edwards, general administrator, said Edmison’s background and experience ideally suited him to undertake this new responsibility.

Before joining the commission as a staff attorney for underground storage tanks in 1991, Edmison served 13 years as director of the Oklahoma Department of Pollution Control, charged with coordinating environmental regulatory activities between various state agencies and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Burkett began his law career in private practice in Woodward in 1950, shortly after receiving his degree from the University of Oklahoma School of Law. He also has served as a county attorney for Woodward County and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, worked in private practice in Oklahoma City, and held Court of Appeals and Oklahoma District Court judgeships. He most recently served as a district judge in Oklahoma’s 7th judicial district (Oklahoma County) from January 1997 until January 1999.

The general counsel heads a legal division of 20 attorneys that provides advocacy and advisory services to the commissioners, represents the commission staff in rate case and other regulatory proceedings, represents the commission in state and federal courts and advises the commission concerning legislation, commission rules and contracts.

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