Two Hennessey Fire Department vehicles were dispatched to the “Lightle Sand Plant” at 16900 E 670 Road at 10:16 a.m. Feb. 23 to investigate “smoke or odor” reports.

“Upon arrival, nothing was found, but there was still a strong odor outside,” Fire Chief Brandon Scott wrote in his report from the incident.

“The Dover Fire Dept. was also dispatched to a gas smell call,” he wrote. “It was also taken into account that there were several calls the day before about a gas odor in the Hennessey Fire Department district.”

It was decided to set up a command center at the HFD station and have trucks continue the investigation with Oklahoma Natural Gas, Mustang Gas, Kingfisher County Emergency Management and local oil companies for a possible pipeline leak, the chief wrote in his report.

They discovered that the smell was coming from the sand plant west of Hennessey.

According to the report, “it was determined that a liquid being delivered and mixed with fly ash and incorporated with the soil to produce rock,” was the apparent cause of the odor.

No names of plant personnel were mentioned in the HFD report, but, “It was stated (by someone there) that the sand plant had a permit from DEQ to use that liquid.”

The HFD collected a dirt sample “before returning to service,” the chief wrote in his incident report.

Sand Plant Sample Sent to State for Testing

Scott told the Times & Free Press Monday morning that he’d worked with then-Kingfisher County Emergency Manager Ryan Deatherage about that incident.

Deatherage resigned that position in October.

Kingfisher County commissioners have interviewed candidates for his successor, but have yet to name one.

Scott added that the HFD’s dirt sample taken in February was then turned over to state authorities and the Times & Free Press has been unable to track down those results, yet.

The newspaper did contact the state Department of Environmental Quality on Monday to inquire about state permits that were held by the sand plant at that time, or are currently held by that business.

The EPA responded that it found none.

Another open records request was made for any information about that dirt sample to the state Corporation Commission and no response was received at press time.

Dollar Still Owns Sand Plant

David Dollar of Hennessey continues to be the owner of the sand plant, now listed as Lightle Sand & Construction LLC on his recent DEQ permit application.

He also lists these companies he owns in Hennessey on DEQ forms: Lightle Farms LLC, Dollar Real Estate Holdings LLC, Dollar Transportation Inc., Dollar Capital Management, Acme Drilling LLC, Dollar Farms LLC and Dollar Trucking LLC.

Also listed is Horizon Rail Group in Davenport.

Company Now Wants to Expand Existing Okarche Railroad Property

Commissioners of the Land Office were asked by the director to obtain “a 3-party consensus appraisal” of a full section located in Okarche at 16-15N-7WIM in Kingfisher County “for potential sale by exchange.”

“A long term commercial lease for a rail yard occupies approximately half of this section,” minutes of the June 10, 2025, commissioner meeting show for the meeting held at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City.

“The land surrounding the rail yard is four separate tracts under agricultural leases and staff were asked by the new lessee (Dollar’s Horizon Rail Group) to: commence the process of offering this parcel for exchange to allow for a business expansion beyond what is permitted by that lease.”

Neither Dollar, nor his representative, were at that board meeting.

Horizon had also asked to include the remnant agricultural land surrounding the rail yard leased area in the exchange, board members were told.

Voting, Discussions by Staff and Governor

The only three voting members of that board are Governor Kevin Stitt, Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell and Blayne Arthur, president of the Board of Agriculture.

Board members were told the first step was to obtain a three-person consensus appraisal to be prepared by three Oklahoma certified general appraisers.

Commercial Real Estate Director J. Alva Brockus recommended approval by a consensus to determine if it’s in the best intent of the trust to consider an exchange “in this situation.”

Stitt asked for clarification on the average, which county and who requested the exchange.

He also asked “what plans the requestor had for the property and if the property was ag land.”

No Details on Property Use

Staff said they didn’t have “details” about the type of business expansion that was being requested.

Also, rent for the “rail lease is approximately $175,000 per year with more than 20 years left on the lease...Whether or not an exchange would be in the best interest of the trust would depend on the appraised value and what the potential buyer would be willing to pay. The purpose of the appraisal is to allow Commissioners of the Land Office to make an informed financial analysis,” the board minutes included.

Next Land Meeting is Monday, But...

The next meeting of the Commissioners of the Land Office is this Monday, Dec.1.

The agendas will be posted in advance online and it’s suggested to check the time of the meeting since it’s dependent on the schedules of the three deciding board members.