Although the oil production in Texas has dropped by two-thirds from the early 1970s, the state’s reserves are still large. Texas has nearly a quarter of America’s crude oil reserves,30% of it being natural gas. Taxes on the state oil production allows Texas to be one of the few states without income tax. Texas is a national leader in energy production and consumption, but as the state’s population is grows quickly, oil proves to not be enough as a source of energy. Texas leads the nation in wind- power capacity, and in 2009 around 6% of its electricity was pulled from the air. One of the major considerations for coming up with other forms of energy is job openings. The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation reported that the possibilities for renewable-energy investments in Texas could bring an additional 23,000 jobs to the state each year until 2020. Little issues such as new tax and government interference has brought worry among oil companies in the state. Texas continues
-Kelsey Tomlinson
http://www.economist.com/node/17151385?story_id=17151385
Texas's decision to search for alternate energy seems like it has a trade-off. While the new energy search will be good for increasing jobs helping with the recession and bringing about the necessary amounts of oil they are projected to need in the future, it is at a cost. They are taking a risk looking for alternative oil when their oil production rate has dropped steadily since 1970.
ReplyDeleteThe history of the oil production in Texas is very impressive. These companies have made millions of dollars for the owners of the companies and the state. When people think of Texas they think of oil. However, I completely agree that it is time for them to move onto new alternative energy resources. The use of wind power has become one of the more dominant renewable resources because of its inexpensiveness due to that fact that it does not require the purchase of any fuel and can run with minimum operation expenses. More money and time has been concentrated on developing this technology. Texas along with other states such as California and Iowa, have been major players in the use of wind energy and the continued development of this technology could do more for the nation than the production of oil ever has.
ReplyDelete-Ashley Luddy