Texas Oil And Gas Industry

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Texas has prospered with many business such as through the cattle, cotton, and technology industry to keep the economy on top. One business in particular has set Texas economy a part from all the other businesses. The oil and gas industry has significantly changed Texas economy from the first discovery in the twentieth century until this exact moment.
Oil was first discovered in the mid-seventeenth century by Spanish explorers. July of 1543 Spanish explorer Luis de Moscoso saw oil floating on the water in the Galveston Bay (Olien 1). In the beginning there was no market or demand for oil until following the Civil War period, entrepreneurs begin digging wells. The first significant oil discovery in Texas was in 1894 in Navarro County near …show more content…

During the first full year of taxation the comptroller of public accounts collected $101,403.25 on the basis of one percent of value of product (Mendoza, Omar, and Vera 5). After the first year the sum varied with the amount of production. In 2009 the oil and gas industry paid over $8.5 billion in Texas state and local taxes (Olien 1). The oil and gas industry creates jobs and generates too many other jobs, creating a “ripple effect”. According to one economic model, manufacturing at nearly 17 additional jobs created for one oil and gas job. The oil money funded highway expansion and the educational system. Politics during the 1900s in Texas was defined as Progressivism. In general the attitude towards businesses was laissez-faire (Mendoza, Omar, and Vera 5-6). There were very few …show more content…

Oil provided new fuel for transportation and manufacturing, even railroads were able to convert to oil. Oil helped manufacturing plants and farms move to a cheaper source of energy. Another significant factor of oil is that it helped encourage automobile production as well as roads. The production of the Interstate highway led to the movement of people and goods (Champagne, Harpham 13). Rapid industrialization of the Gulf Coast region sparked. By 1929 in Harris County, 27 percent of all manufacturing employees worked in refineries. By 1940 the capacity of the refineries had increased fourfold. The oil and gas industries carried a boom-and-bust mentality (Oliena 1). The economy flourish at times and failed other times, because the prices would rise and fall. When new oil was discovered in a particular place it brought about more people, overcrowding the schools and new housing. Yet a couple years later the town could experience a bust creating poverty and making the town a ghost town. The oil and gas industry transformed the government and its role with the economy. The Texas Railroad Commission was extended to regulate energy and to promote well-spacing rules. Higher education benefitted through the oil and gas industry ( Munch, Francis, and Rundell 604). In 1923 oil was discovered in the West Texas Permian Basin on university land. The Permanent University Fund was split up between the

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