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Curious what that'll do to West Texas' non-extraction economy. Once a whole nation state depends on extraction, they usually lose other forms of economic activ

Curious what that'll do to West Texas' non-extraction economy. Once a whole nation state depends on extraction, they usually lose other forms of economic activity. This is usually called "Dutch Disease" for historical reasons. But what happens when a small region within a country becomes entirely dependent on resource extraction?

MandieD 8y ago
Norway seems to have taken the edge off by taxing fossil fuel use every bit as hard as the rest of Western Europe does and investing a large portion of the profits into a permanent fund for their residents in anticipation of an end to the bonanza, only taking a small percent out per year. “Never get high on your own supply,” as that song about dealing another harmful, addictive substance goes. Unfortunately, West Texas doesn’t have a permanent fund for its residents' current and future oil-industry-driven needs and to even out the boom-bust cycle. Midland and Odessa are cities that only became cities once oil was discovered out there in the 20s. Before, they were little towns. So there wasn’t a ton of economic activity out there before oil - just a railroad interchange, mostly for shipping cattle, I think. I remember seeing a half-built skyscraper in Midland while visiting relatives there in the late 90s, a leftover of the 80s bust that drove the S&L crisis.
lurquer 8y ago
There never was a non-extraction economy in West Texas. The place is empty. Some cattle. Fire ants. And the occasional SS retiree living in a mobile home in the middle of nowhere (such as the lady highlighted in the article). Weep over the rainforests. Weep over the wetlands. Heck, you can even weep over the drained swamps. But, spare your tears for West Texas... there is NOTHING you could do to that terrain or ecosystem that wouldn't be an improvement over the wasteland that it now is.
- p1esk 8y ago
  How about weeping over natural gas flaring equivalent to daily exhaust emitted by about 2.7 million cars?
  - Scoundreller 8y ago
    It's a temporary thing. Once the number of LNG liquefaction plants in North America more than doubles, NG will be worth collecting for export to markets that pay more than domestic buyers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LNG_terminals#North_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LNG_terminals#North_Am... The oil market is much more globalized than NG.
- adrianmonk 8y ago
  There are other industries. There's wind power, which has been doing well and probably will continue to. And there's agriculture on irrigated land, which isn't a new thing but never went away. The US is the world's top exporter of cotton, Texas produces more cotton than any other state, and West Texas is the center of that production. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_production_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_production_in_the_Unite... and http://cotton.tamu.edu/funfacts.html http://cotton.tamu.edu/funfacts.html .)
- village-idiot 8y ago
  > Weep over the rainforests. Weep over the wetlands. Heck, you can even weep over the drained swamps. But, spare your tears for West Texas... there is NOTHING you could do to that terrain or ecosystem that wouldn't be an improvement over the wasteland that it now is. You’re making up an argument I didn’t make.
pram 8y ago
It has happened before. If you drove through west Texas during the early 90s you would have seen places like Pecos, where there were lots of nice houses that were completely abandoned. The whole area is littered with dying small towns from various boom eras.

MandieD 8y ago

Norway seems to have taken the edge off by taxing fossil fuel use every bit as hard as the rest of Western Europe does and investing a large portion of the profits into a permanent fund for their residents in anticipation of an end to the bonanza, only taking a small percent out per year. “Never get high on your own supply,” as that song about dealing another harmful, addictive substance goes. Unfortunately, West Texas doesn’t have a permanent fund for its residents' current and future oil-industry-driven needs and to even out the boom-bust cycle. Midland and Odessa are cities that only became cities once oil was discovered out there in the 20s. Before, they were little towns. So there wasn’t a ton of economic activity out there before oil - just a railroad interchange, mostly for shipping cattle, I think. I remember seeing a half-built skyscraper in Midland while visiting relatives there in the late 90s, a leftover of the 80s bust that drove the S&L crisis.

lurquer 8y ago

There never was a non-extraction economy in West Texas. The place is empty. Some cattle. Fire ants. And the occasional SS retiree living in a mobile home in the middle of nowhere (such as the lady highlighted in the article). Weep over the rainforests. Weep over the wetlands. Heck, you can even weep over the drained swamps. But, spare your tears for West Texas... there is NOTHING you could do to that terrain or ecosystem that wouldn't be an improvement over the wasteland that it now is.

p1esk 8y ago
How about weeping over natural gas flaring equivalent to daily exhaust emitted by about 2.7 million cars?
- Scoundreller 8y ago
  It's a temporary thing. Once the number of LNG liquefaction plants in North America more than doubles, NG will be worth collecting for export to markets that pay more than domestic buyers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LNG_terminals#North_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LNG_terminals#North_Am... The oil market is much more globalized than NG.
adrianmonk 8y ago
There are other industries. There's wind power, which has been doing well and probably will continue to. And there's agriculture on irrigated land, which isn't a new thing but never went away. The US is the world's top exporter of cotton, Texas produces more cotton than any other state, and West Texas is the center of that production. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_production_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_production_in_the_Unite... and http://cotton.tamu.edu/funfacts.html http://cotton.tamu.edu/funfacts.html .)
village-idiot 8y ago
> Weep over the rainforests. Weep over the wetlands. Heck, you can even weep over the drained swamps. But, spare your tears for West Texas... there is NOTHING you could do to that terrain or ecosystem that wouldn't be an improvement over the wasteland that it now is. You’re making up an argument I didn’t make.

pram 8y ago

It has happened before. If you drove through west Texas during the early 90s you would have seen places like Pecos, where there were lots of nice houses that were completely abandoned. The whole area is littered with dying small towns from various boom eras.