Blue States Can’t Quit That Big Oil Revenue Stream!
The report mentions a number of states and counties this is a problem for, but one of the most interesting ones is Taft, California:
“Property taxes from oil and gas fund Taft’s well-kept parks and recreation centers. The local college built a new classroom and hired staff to teach anatomy with funding from Chevron. Millions of dollars in donations from oil companies support the Taft Oil Technology Academy, a popular high school program where students learn petroleum geology, fly drones and research topics like carbon dioxide recycling.
The county Taft is in, Kern County, produces over two-thirds of California’s oil, but it’s also one of the state’s biggest suppliers of solar and wind power. But, the money from putting in solar farms comes and goes quickly, with little in the way of continued revenue for the county. So, when the state government tried to shut down drilling, this put the county at odds with the state government .
It isn’t hard to find many other parts of the country where this is also true. Oil fields in Texas and New Mexico are accustomed to boom and bust cycles, but they’re not prepared for a permanent loss of those jobs and population. State governments that are heavily dependent on these income streams are also likely to drag their feet on renewables or count on other states to buy the oil if they themselves don’t want it used as much locally.
There are no easy solutions, but this is something we need to be careful to not blunder into. With some planning and strategic foresight, the problem could be solved. If states don’t plan ahead, the consequences for some communities will be catastrophic and the transition to renewables will be slowed.
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