Texas accounts for 1/3 Of all American oil reserves, unemployment is average at 4.3%, but Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porter announced that, as of June, “a record-breaking 297,800 Texans appeared on oil and gas industry payrolls.”[1] These jobs pay much more that service industry jobs or manufacturing jobs with a median wage of $56,587 and oil rich states much higher[2]. I can tell you personally, I make nearly $70,000 in this industry. That’s more money spent in the state along with property tax that makes up some contributing factors. Rick Perry lowered taxes and regulations on this industry, following the trends of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Bush is criticized for not policing the environmental effects of this trend, but on the other hand he passed a law forcing power plants owners to buy a certain amount of renewable energy a year, leading tx to become the nation leader in producing wind energy, consequently creating more jobs.[3] In 2015, 88.9% of collected tax revenue came from sales tax and gross receipts[4], basically we make more money so we spend more money creating more tax revenue. Also, George Bush enacted another law concerning alcohol and drug education; a subset of which has brought the state a massive amount of revenue dispersed locally and state wide. If you get a D.W.I., regardless of the circumstances, you are going to pay a minimum of a $3000 fine to the state aswell as another fine to the local court system. The average cost of a D.W.I. here is $7000.00. They are looking for the opportunity to charge anyone with a D.W.I. I promise.
To be fair, it is speculated this will be the last year of this surplus and with this storm on top of other factors i could see how that could be true. Yes these have had many negative effects on the environment;working in many of the refineries I can tell you it is disgusting, especially propylene refineries(think Koch). But with the choice of a good living for my children or standing heavily outnumbered in support of my principles I’ll choose my children.
[1] Brick, Micheal.
“How Many Jobs In Texas Are Related To Oil,Gas? Go Figure.”,
The Houston Chronicle,
25, September 2014
https://www.google.com/amp/www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/amp/In-Texas-Oil-Boom-Job-Abound-Give-or-Take-5772992.php
[2] Ausick, Paul.
“The Ten Most Oil Rich States”,
USA Today Money,
23, August 2013,
[3] George W. Bush Wikipedia page
(I am not clear yet on how to properly cite a Wikipedia entry)
[4] Ballotpedia.
Texas State Budget and Finances,
2017,