The five fastest-growing U.S. metro areas
(and percentage of growth from 2000 to
2006)
1. St. George, Utah
39.8
2. Greeley, Colo.
31
3. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla. 29.6
4. Bend, Ore.
29.3
5. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.
29.2
U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau says: Rogers,
Wagoner, Okmulgee, Pawnee, Creek,
Osage and Tulsa counties.
The Tulsa Metro Chamber sometimes adds
Mayes, Washington and Muskogee counties
to that list because some people living
there commute to the Tulsa area for work.
FASTEST-GROWING METRO AREAS
WHAT IS THE TULSA METRO AREA?
WEATHER
E-6
High 55 / Low 34
Mostly cloudy
TOMORROW
A new Tulsa Zoo critter with a new name.
NEWS
SINCE 1905
50˘
Sports
B-1
WWW
.
TULSAWORLD
.
COM
THURSDAY
A
PRIL
5, 2007
News
A-2
Breath check
What are the best ways
to beat halitosis?
On the mound
This season’s Tulsa Drillers pitching staff might not have much
Double-A baseball experience, but it has plenty of promise.
Scene
D-1
Captives
freed
Iran releases 15 British
sailors and marines who
had been held for 13 days.
Sinclair
to
pay
$5.5
m
illion
Ex-officials cited
in Clean Water
Act violations
B
Y
D
AVID
H
ARPER
World Staff Writer
The Sinclair Tulsa Refining Co. will
pay $5.5 million and two of its former
managers will spend six months un-
der house arrest for manipulating
wastewater discharges from the refin-
ery into the Arkansas River, a federal
judge ruled Wednesday.
Wastewater discharges into the riv-
er were manipulated twice in 2003 to
cause unrepresentative samples to be
collected during mandatory environ-
mental testing, Sinclair officials admit-
ted in December. The company, a
subsidiary of oil and gasoline produc-
er Sinclair Oil Corp., was placed on
two years of probation for violating
the federal Clean Water Act.
“Companies and their employees
have a legal obligation to abide by the
laws that protect our rivers and water-
ways from the harmful effects of pol-
lution, ” Matthew J. McKeown, acting
assistant attorney general for the U.S.
Justice Department’s Environment and
Natural Resources Division, said in a
written statement released Wednesday
evening.
Granta Nakayama, the EPA’s assis-
tant administrator for enforcement and
compliance assurance, added that “ac-
curate information is essential for
EPA to assure compliance with envi-
ronmental regulations. By falsifying
wastewater sampling results, Sinclair
undermined our efforts to protect the
public and the environment.”
Sinclair attorney Mary Spearing said
the company has improved its envi-
ronmental program significantly since
the illegal actions were taken.
The case was investigated by the
EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division
and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s
Environmental Protection Unit.
Attorney General Drew Edmondson
was quoted in the same press release
as saying, “The investigation and pros-
ecution of Sinclair Tulsa Refining
Company should make it clear that
corporations and their employees
SEE SINCLAIR A-4
Inhofe on ’08 campaign: Dems are gunning for me
Recent fundraising letters
have targeted the Oklahoma
Republican and his
views on global warming.
B
Y
J
IM
M
YERS
World Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Jim In-
hofe thinks he is the next Richard
Pombo.
Coming from the veteran Oklahoma
Republican lawmaker, that description
might surprise some.
After all, Pombo was the seven-term
Republican congressman from a safe
GOP district in California who ap-
peared to be cruising toward re-elec-
tion last year until he was swept up in
the Democratic wave that cost his
party control of Congress.
Pombo, who had been chairman of
a House panel on natural resources,
ended up losing to the same opponent
he easily defeated two years earlier.
Inhofe says the same people who
took out Pombo are now gunning for
him.
He based that prediction at least
partly on recent fundraising letters the
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Com-
mittee sent out using Inhofe as one of
the major reasons donors should pony
up for the cause.
“One seat. That’s all it would take
to flip Senate control back to the
GOP in 2008,” one letter states.
“And once again, the Oklahoma Re-
publican Senator James Inhofe — who
has called global warming the ‘great-
est hoax ever perpetrated on the
American people’ — would assume
the chairmanship of the U.S. Senate
Committee on Environment and Pub-
lic Works.”
The letter also refers to Al Gore’s
recent appearances on Capitol Hill, ac-
cusing Inhofe of berating the former
vice president.
“I am not at all surprised,” Inhofe
said when asked about the letters.
“I’m the Richard Pombo of the next
election. I understand that.”
Although Pombo’s opponent report-
edly campaigned against the incum-
bent’s record on the environment, In-
hofe pointed out that other issues
motivated voters to oust Pombo.
Press reports indicate Democrats
were able to nationalize Pombo’s cam-
paign by focusing on scandals that
had plagued the Republican-led Con-
SEE INHOFE A-4
M
etro
growth
nearing
7
digits
The seven-county area
is estimated to have
1 million people by 2012.
B
Y
L
EIGH
B
ELL
World Staff Writer
The population of the Tulsa metro-
politan area should hit 1 million in
the next three to five years, said Jeff
Wallace, the director of the Oklahoma
Census Data Center.
His prediction, made Wednesday, is
based on population growth estimates
of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or
MSAs, released the same day by the
U.S. Census Bureau.
“The 1 million mark is probably a
major threshold for a lot of companies
that want to go into an area that has
a million people,” Wallace said.
Population numbers carry impor-
tance, as they are used to woo new
businesses and apply for federal
grants.
The population of the Tulsa metro
area, which includes Tulsa County
and six nearby counties, grew 4.4 per-
cent from April 2000 to July 2006,
census data show.
The current population is 897,752.
That makes Tulsa the 55th largest
metropolis in the country. The Okla-
homa City area ranks 45th with 1.17
million people, which reflects a 7 per-
cent growth in the same period.
Growth in Oklahoma, however, is
lackluster compared with other parts
of the country. The fastest-growing
metro area is St. George, Utah, which
recorded a population increase of
nearly 40 percent since 2000.
Fayetteville, Ark., is one of the 50
fastest-growing metro areas, with an
increase of 21.3 percent, the Census
Bureau reported.
The Tulsa metro area is growing
like the country — slowly and steadi-
ly. The area’s population is increasing
by about 0.8 percent to 0.9 percent a
year, said Bob Ball, an economist at
the Tulsa Metro Chamber.
“That kind of growth, I think it
bodes well,” he said.
The growth is the good kind, too,
because it includes a strong labor
force, which isn’t the case nationwide,
Ball said.
Gerald Dorsey counts growth by
the number of houses his construc-
tion company builds. The current pro-
ject total is about 30.
“We’re busier than a one-armed
wallpaper hanger or a cranberry mer-
chant the day before Thanksgiving,”
said Dorsey, the sales manager of
Concept-Builders.
The Sand Springs company has nev-
er been busier in its 30 years, but the
growth is mostly outside of Tulsa in
towns such as Broken Arrow, Skia-
took and as far as Verdigris.
SEE GROW A-4
Nursing home to close if no buyer found
B
Y
Z
IVA
B
RANSTETTER
World Projects Editor
The administrator of a troubled Tul-
sa nursing home says the home will
close within 90 days if a buyer is not
found.
Green Park Nursing and Rehabilita-
tion Center notified residents and the
state Health Department on Tuesday
in a letter that the facility would close
unless it is sold, according to Emman-
uel Azzun, the administrator.
State regulations require a 90-day
notice before a facility is closed, he
said.
The facility’s owner, an attorney
who lived in Canada, died in Febru-
ary, and his family is now operating
the facility. About 45 residents with
mental retardation, mental illness and
a variety of physical problems live in
Green Park, 3910 Park Road.
The home has a history of prob-
lems, including the scaldings of two
disabled patients on March 1. An in-
spection report states that an aide re-
portedly told one resident: ‘‘If you
don’t behave, I’m going to leave you
in this hot shower.’’
Tulsa police and the attorney gener-
al’s office are investigating. No charg-
es have been filed.
The 400-page state Health Depart-
ment report issued last week found
many problems at the facility, includ-
ing abuse and neglect of patients, fail-
ure to report abuse, filthy conditions
and understaffing.
On Monday, Azzun disputed find-
ings in the report and said many of
the problems at Green Park have
SEE HOME A-4
TOM GILBERT / Tulsa World file
Wastewater discharges into the Arkansas River from the Sinclair refinery, shown in this 2005 photo on the river’s west
bank near downtown Tulsa, were manipulated so that samples taken during mandatory testing met pollution standards.
Sen. Jim
Inhofe
He says his
potential ouster in
’08 has been a
focal point of
Democratic
fundraising efforts.
Online
Read the state Health Department’s
report about conditions at Green Park
Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and
past stories about the center and its
problems.
www.tulsaworld.com/greenpark
INDEX
Action Line......A-10
Ask Amy............D-4
Business.............. E-1
CD Rates............ E-2
Centennial.......... A-7
Classified............ C-1
Comics............ D-4,5
Crossword.......... D-4
Editorial............ A-12
Horoscope..........
D-4
Local................... A-9
Movies................ D-2
Obituaries.........
A-10
Sports..................
B-1
Stocks.................. E-5
Transitions....... A-10
THE CRIME
L Sinclair Tulsa Refi ning Co. offi cials admitted last December that
wastewater discharges from the refi nery into the Arkansas River were
manipulated twice in 2003, causing unrepresentative samples to be
collected during mandatory environmental testing.
THE PLAYERS
Harmon Connell, 60, admitted that from Dec. 24 to Dec. 27, 2003,
while he was plant manager at the refinery, he and other employees
limited the wastewater ?ow into the river because biotoxicity monitoring
was slated.
John Kapura, 58, confessed that while serving as operations manager
on Dec. 29, 2003, he directed employees to divert crude oil received
from a particular pipeline to a storage tank and to substitute sweet crude
oil for a refinery process because of concerns about the monitoring.
THE SENTENCE
Sinclair Tulsa Refining Co. will pay $5.5 million. Connell was ordered to
pay a $160,000
fine and Kapura was given an $80,000 penalty.
Both men were also placed on three years of probation.
ROBERT S. CROSS / Tulsa World
Harmon Connell leaves a federal courthouse in Tulsa on
Wednesday.
F
INAL
H
OME
E
DITION