b'E c o n o m i c sLike the rest of Texas, the economy of the Coastalis a direct reflection of the health of the nationalfore long, Texas was being called the Saudi Arabia of Bend is largely centered on the energy industry.economy. In recent decades, oil prices crashed afternatural gasand for good reason. Through fracking When the Port of Corpus Christi opened to ship- 9/11 but skyrocketed as the U.S. military engagedtechnology, the United States holds underground ping interests in 1926, the main commodity beingin operations in the Middle East, where productionmore than a centurys supply of natural gas.traded was cotton, but by the end of the 1940s, thein Iraq came to a stand-still, contributing to priceUnited States energy independence from foreign top products shipped out of the port were crudespikes. In July 2008, American motorists paid theimports was marked by the lifting of the 40-year-old oil and refined petroleum products. By the end ofhighest average price for a gallon a gas in our historyfederal ban on crude oil exports that was passed by World War II, much of the South Texas economy hadat $4.11, only for it to dive below $2 by the end ofCongress during the Carter Administration. The ban transitioned from agriculture to oil and natural gas,the year after the economy crashed. was put in place in response to the Arab oil embargo a trend that would only accelerate in the post-warFrom 2010 to 2015, fracking was allowed to expandthat resulted in rationing and miles-long gas lines economic boom. by the EPA with few limits, and crude oil produc- throughout the country. The idea was that the U.S. For much of the 1970s through the 2000s, thetion in Texas quadrupled from less than 400 millioncould not afford to sell oil to other countries until we economic health of the state of Texas, including thebarrels per year, to more than 1.2 billion. Natural gaswere no longer dependent on foreign suppliers to Coastal Bend, rose and fell on the price of oil, whichproduction boomed at an even faster pace, and be- meet domestic demand.86 THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'