Elizabeth Ames Jones

 

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Texas Energy Facts

In fiscal 2007 alone, the oil and gas industry has contributed more than $6 billion in state and local taxes. 95% of the Texas Economic Stabilization Fund (rainy day fund) has come from taxes on oil and gas production; these funds are being used for property tax relief for homeowners. This industry directly employs more than 264,000 Texans.

Texas is the 5th largest producer of coal in the U.S. Texas produces more wind energy than any other state in the U.S.

Oil
Texas is the top crude oil producing state, producing 340 million barrels of oil a year, or 18% of total oil produced in the United States.

Natural Gas
Texas is the top natural gas producing state, producing 6.2 trillion cubic feet, or 33% of the total natural gas produced in the United States.

Coal

• Texas is the fifth largest producer of coal in the U.S.
• Texas ranks first in the nation in coal consumption for electricity generation.
• The state of Texas ranked third nationally in combined direct and indirect economic impact of coal mining with more than $28 billion annually.
• Texas is the largest generator of electricity in the nation; 37% of that generation is from coal.
• Texas has about 23 billion tons of lignite deposits, with about 10 billion tons economically recoverable in today’s market. There is enough economically recoverable lignite remaining to sustain Texas’ current consumption for the next 100 years.
• Mining operations provide needed jobs and tax base for schools, hospitals and other essential services for the communities located nearby.
• Each year, the Texas lignite mining industry spends in excess of $100 million on land restoration and other environmental procedures, including ground water protection and improvement, clean air protection and archaeological review and protection.
• Restored land is primarily for cattle grazing, crops, commercial timber, wildlife habitat and wetlands.
• The restored land is generally returned to a more productive state than before it was mined. At the very least, it is restored to its original condition.
  

Federal Energy Information

Oil

• Oil currently supplies more than 40% of our total energy demands and more than 99% of the fuel we use in our cars and trucks.
• One barrel of crude oil, when refined, produces about 20 gallons of finished motor gasoline, 7 gallons of diesel, 4 gallons of jet fuel, and the remainder is used for other petroleum products.
• More than one-fourth of the crude oil produced in the United States is produced offshore in the Gulf of Mexico

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve

• The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is the largest government-owned inventory of emergency crude oil in the world.
• The reserve's current capacity of 727 million barrels is securely stored in deep, underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coasts.
• Represents a $21 billion-plus investment in national security ($4 billion for facilities; $17 billion for oil acquisition).
• Should the President decide to tap the emergency stockpile, SPR crude oil can begin flowing to U.S. markets in as little as 13 days.
• In the aftermath of delivery disruptions caused by damage in the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, loans from the SPR played a critical role in stabilizing the nation’s oil supplies.
• The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directs the Secretary of Energy to fill the SPR to an authorized one billion barrels.