“Fossil Fuel Extraction and Western Economies” compares the importance of the fossil fuel economy in the five Rocky Mountain energy-producing states–Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming–and analyzes the relative success that states and communities have had in maximizing benefits and minimizing the costs of energy development.
Written by Julia Haggerty, it makes three key findings at the state level:
- Fossil fuel extraction plays a limited role in state economies, and energy-related jobs (except for Wyoming at 8.5 percent), providing less than 3 percent of both total employment and total personal income for other states.
- Price — not policy — is the primary driver of oil and gas development activity, making it highly volatile. Employment and income from mining, including energy development, in the five-state region follow commodity price trends, and income compensation from mining shrank by the largest percent–16.1 percent from 2008 to 2009–of any economic sector.
- Tax revenue from fossil fuel extraction–rather than jobs–is the longest-lasting economic legacy of fossil-fuel development. While energy revenue varies because of price volatility, it continues to accrue long after most jobs have left a region. By maximizing collection of fossil-fuel revenue and ensuring it is adequately distributed, states increase the benefits of energy development, while minimizing, or at least covering, the costs.…