b'E c o n o m i c sLike the rest of Texas, the economy of the Coastal Bend is largely centered on the energy industry. When the Port of Corpus Christi opened to shipping interests in 1926, the main commodity being traded was cotton, but by the end of the 1940s, the top products shipped out of the port were crude oil and refined petroleum products. By the end of World War II, much of the South Texas economy had transitioned from agriculture to oil and natural gas, a trend that would only accelerate in the post-war economic boom.For much of the 1970s through the 2000s, the economic health of the state of Texas, including the Coastal Bend, rose and fell on the price of oil, which is a direct reflection of the health of the national economy. In recent decades, oil prices crashed after 9/11 but skyrocketed as the U.S. military engaged in operations in the Middle East, where production in Iraq came to a stand-still, contributing to price spikes. In July 2008, American motorists paid the high-est average price for a gallon a gas in our history at $4.11, only for it to dive below $2 by the end of the year after the economy crashed.From 2010 to 2015, fracking was allowed to expand by the EPA with few lim-its, and crude oil production in Texas quadrupled from less than 400 million barrels per year, to more than 1.2 billion. Natural gas production boomed at an even faster pace, and before long, Texas was being called the Saudi Ara-bia of natural gasand for good reason. Through fracking technology, the United States holds underground more than a centurys supply of natural gas.United States energy independence from foreign imports was marked by the lifting of the 40-year-old federal ban on crude oil exports that was passed by Congress during the Carter Administration. The ban was put in place in response to the Arab oil embargo that resulted in rationing and miles-long gas lines throughout the country. The idea was that the U.S. could not afford to sell oil to other countries until we were no longer dependent on foreign suppliers to meet domestic demand.56 THE COASTAL BEND TOUR+RELO+BUILD GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'