Phases and Stages: The Texas Energy Story

When wildcatters struck oil in Jim Wells County in the 1920s, politicians in Alice, Texas saw opportunity beyond the oil patch. The town, which legend has it was named after the daughter of Richard King, the founder of King Ranch, adopted the slogan, “The Hub City of South Texas” due to its proximity to San Antonio to the north, the port of Corpus Christi to the east, and Laredo and the Mexican border to the south. The branding worked. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Alice was a distribution hub for su /episode/index/show/4266db1b-b7ea-402e-939a-d7122b02413c/id/38956195

When you think of socialites taking in a performance featuring Ray Charles or James Brown, all the while rubbing elbows with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, the first U.S. city that comes to mind is probably New York, or maybe Los Angeles. 

But what if I told you in its heyday, those things and more were happening in a town of some 55,000 people less than 10 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. For a time, Port Arthur was the place to be, and be seen. And the backdrop to all the energy a /episode/index/show/4266db1b-b7ea-402e-939a-d7122b02413c/id/38956200

The two cities that make up ground zero for oil and gas production in the United States, Midland and Odessa, have been competing for recognition and prestige for as long as a lot of folks in town can remember. 
These days that cross-town rivalry has bled over into a competition for emerging industry, a developing workforce, and a boat load of tax dollars. But as Marilu Hastings at the Mitchell Foundation puts i /episode/index/show/4266db1b-b7ea-402e-939a-d7122b02413c/id/38956205

Midland, Texas has been known for oil and gas since the 1920s, but there's a new kind of energy popping up in town that has some folks upset about the changing times.

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There’s a place in Central Texas, a place once heralded as ‘The Town Where It Rains Money’  that’s already gone through something of an energy transition. Rockdale, population 5,300, is a cautionary tale of a community trying to figure out how to embrace what’s left from the energy industry of the past while courting economic activity that’s expecting the benefits of the energy industry of the future. 

Learn more abo /episode/index/show/4266db1b-b7ea-402e-939a-d7122b02413c/id/38956215