Texas Political News: Energy providing jobs in Texas
The following is a digest of an article that originally appeared on WLTX.com. The Texas Lobby Group is posting this summary as a public service for Texas citizens, Texas lobbyists and lobbying firms, Texas government officials and consultants, and other interested parties.
Tuning in to virtually any political source imaginable, you’re going to hear a lot about job creation and where to look for it. Everyone wants to be ahead of the job curve, especially with high unemployment and an ongoing recession at hand. A good place to look for jobs is in a steady industry. Fields involving food, medical aid, and energy are all fairly consistent as they are services that provide necessary items for people. This usually means more minimal fluctuation. One of the more consistent fields is giving way to a major transition, and that’s the energy field. As we move towards solar, wind, and sources of energy that are more clean and renewable, there is an awkward transition at hand.
How do we move seamlessly from one means of collecting energy to another? Especially when the companies providing the energy, and therefore jobs involved, are not always part of the transition? The power shift then goes from company to company, instead of from method to method. This will uproot many jobs, and move them to another place within the same field. Even if energy does not fully transition to more renewable and available resources, a great deal of jobs and money will go towards them. While this may temporarily offset the status quo, energy remains a thriving field.
“The big question mark is the price of oil and natural gas. Hiring for gas fields has slowed as drillers have pulled back in response to lower gas prices. Companies are moving money to developing shale oil instead. Most agree that large-scale oil hiring has at least another year or two to run, before the infrastructure of the new fields is put into place, Hall says. Operating rigs will require less labor, and job growth will moderate, he adds.”
A great deal of energy transition is moving towards shale oil, which is acquired through converting the organic material in shale into a natural oil. Shale oil is actually one of the first known uses of mineral oil. As the field grapples with the many sources of energy available, we can look forward to a more settled and steady energy field. Hopefully in the near future.
Read the original article here.