The oil and gas industry is huge in Texas. Which is fair, given this is the state where everything’s bigger, after all.
The Lone Star State is the single largest producer of oil in the USA, and a major employer of residents. Local media reported the oil and gas industry accounted for some 37% of all jobs in Texas, employing more than 347,000 people in 2022.
Sure, the numbers sound promising, and keeping thousands of people employed is always a good thing. But a coalition of unions dedicated to fighting climate change has called attention to some of the downsides of the industry.
That union, calling itself the Texas Climate Jobs Project, has said jobs in Texas’ biggest industries — namely construction and oil & gas — are often unsafe, underpaid, and non-unionized.
But new legislation that aims to reverse the impact of climate change could change that for the better.
Less Methane, More Jobs
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new guidelines last November, with the intended goal to reduce harmful methane emissions. Rather than hurt a booming oil and gas industry, though, this change is expected to actually create tens of thousands of new jobs in clean energy.
The Texas Climate Jobs Project conducted an independent study into this exact matter and found that “there is an opportunity to create as many as 35,000 high-quality jobs while mitigating methane emissions in Texas.”
“This report estimates that there is a need for a minimum of 19,478 workers to implement the proposed standards in the EPA’s new proposed methane rule and a maximum of 35,006 workers to address methane emissions more thoroughly in Texas,” the group said as it presented the findings of its report.
“Reducing methane emissions from oil and gas drilling and processing would provide significant numbers of jobs to Texas, adding between 6% and 9% to the number employed in this industry in 2022.”
Those are huge numbers for an industry that already experienced enormous growth last year, and the potential gets even better.
Quality AND Quantity: Texas Can Get Both
On top of the direct benefit to the environment through cleaner energy and less harmful emissions, the thousands more jobs to come could also be of a higher quality and better paid than before.
As the Texan oil and gas industry looks to move in a new direction, thanks to the EPA rules, it’s a brand new opportunity for jobs to ensure they provide fair wages, OSHA training, labor agreements, and more support for “well-paying, family-sustaining jobs.”
EcoCareers, for one, would love to see this kind of “industry makeover” come to pass, and the Texas Climate Jobs Project called for the government, unions, boards, and groups to work together to make it happen.
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