Texas is currently enjoying one of the greatest oil booms in its history. Evidence of this is everywhere, from the bustling boom happening in Midland to the billions of dollars being earned by savvy investors and filling our Rainy Day Fund coffers.
But how long will the good times roll? Texas Monthly‘s business contributor, Loren Steffy, moderated a panel discussion on November 19 at the Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, where he asked three experts—Arthur E. Berman, a Sugar Land-based geologist and shale skeptic; Scott W. Tinker, the director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin; and Kenneth Medlock III, an energy fellow at the Baker Institute—to weigh in on that very question and to debate whether this latest boom will treat Texas, and the nation, any better than the last two.
The conversation covered questions like how long will this last (Berman believes the “so-called shale revolution is more of a retirement party”); if energy independence is achievable (Tinker said we should be more concerned with “energy security”); and, naturally, the environmental impacts of fracking (Berman reminds the audience of the environmental footprint as it relates to infrastructure and the surrounding communities).
Watch the whole discussion below:
