Midland, Saudi America
The Gist
The Midland/Odessa area of west Texas is booming. The oil
boom that the United States is experiencing is brought to you courtesy of something
called fracking. Fracking (hydraulic fracturing) is the use of
high-pressure water and chemicals underground to break up shale rock and
release the oil and gas trapped inside. The
process is expensive and raises the ire of environmental groups. Although the price of oil
continues to fall, the oil boom that has made Midland the “Dubai of Texas” is
not likely to end any time soon. Midland has the lowest unemployment rate in the
country and the population is growing at 4.6% per year (the overall Texas rate
is 1.6%). Plans are being made to build the tallest building between Los Angeles and Houston. All
this growth is creating an inflated housing market more like DC than a city of
150,000 and stretching the city’s infrastructure to the brink. However, city
officials know that the boom might quickly become a bust when oil prices come
down. Longtime residents remember ‘Black Friday’ (October 14, 1983) when the largest bank in the
region collapsed after oil priced bottomed out, starting a domino effect that
transformed a once booming Midland into a ghost town…and now you know the gist.
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