Warmington said the criticism is unfair.

“I think she’s done a good job, despite what the critics say,” Warmington said. “To go from 2½ years ago when we had zero knowledge of what was actually happening to the point now that even the EPA follows what we are doing.”

Fallin in 2014 created the Coordinating Council on Seismic Activity to coordinate ongoing and future studies of earthquakes by various groups. That, in turn, led to the development of policies by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission that shut or reduced flow into disposal wells believed responsible for earthquakes.

Fallin infuriated critics in 2015 by signing into law Senate Bill 809, which prohibited cities and counties from banning drilling within their boundaries, but she and legislative leaders said the measure was needed to ensure consistent rules.

How close to the top of the list Fallin is for interior secretary is unclear, but she has several things going for her. Among them is a long-standing loyalty to Trump and the backing of Harold Hamm, the Continental Resources founder who has advised Trump on energy matters.

Being from Oklahoma, if history is a guide, might be to her disadvantage. Very few Oklahomans have held or even been considered for cabinet positions, the best-known being Patrick Hurley, a Tulsa oil and gas attorney who became secretary of war in the Hoover administration. Hurley later served as President Franklin Roosevelt’s personal representative in China during World War II.

Randy Krehbiel 918-581-8365 randy.krehbiel@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @rkrehbiel Barbara Hoberock 405-528-2465 barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com Twitter: @bhoberock

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