As Goes Texas, So Can the World

Foreword by Jodey Arrington, U.S. Representative for Texas’ 19th Congressional District

The world needs more energy. Whether delivering electricity to a community in Africa for the first time or powering the data center revolution, energy access is essential for human flourishing. While many global politicians and business leaders talk about an energy transition, economic reality demonstrates that the world is headed for an energy expansion. We need energy of all kinds—above and below the ground.

As an energy powerhouse and home to some of the top innovative energy companies in the world, my home state of Texas has demonstrated how to produce affordable, reliable, and cleaner energy through market-based solutions. Following Texas’s lead will require countries to embrace economic freedom in their policies.

Texas’ 19th Congressional District, where I live and serve, covers a large section of western Texas. We call ourselves “the FOOD, FUEL, and FIBER Capital of the World!” and that word “fuel” covers all types of energy: oil and natural gas, but also wind, solar, nuclear, geothermal, and battery storage.

The energy boom in Texas is nothing short of remarkable. Since 2010, crude oil production has nearly quintupled, from 427,000 barrels of oil per day to more than 2 million barrels per day. Wind production has also increased nearly 200 percent over the last decade, and solar capacity has grown 6,900 percent over the same period. While their capacity factors are lower than those of conventional energy sources, the growth is impressive.

The Lone Star State ranks first in oil, natural gas, and wind production. We have the most refineries and produce more electricity than any other state. We’re second in solar production, and our battery storage investment, which was virtually nonexistent in 2013, has grown to 3.42 gigawatts, also second in the country.

Free economies produce the energy people need and deliver the clean environment that people demand.

Newer, enhanced geothermal technologies are young in Texas but growing. Texas is home to 11 of the 27 geothermal startups in the country as of 2023. We’ve got significantly more potential thanks to our underground heat resources, and hard-earned expertise with drilling and fracking know-how.

Yes, Texas is a big state blessed with abundant natural resources and ideal conditions for renewable power. But these and other resources should ultimately thrive without government subsidies. Innovation, investment, and energy production thrive best in freer markets that encourage competition instead of having politicians pick winners and losers.

Our economy in Texas, for example, easily outshines that of other large states, such as California. This is evidenced by the massive migration of Americans from California to Texas. “When choosing where to move, Texas was the top destination for Californians,” a Rice University report put it in 2023. “The Census Bureau indicates 102,442 people moved from California to Texas in 2022. No other state-to-state combo saw as much movement.”

Californians come to Texas seeking freedom, especially freedom from the Golden State’s harsh regulatory regime. They are drawn to Texas by “low taxes, cheap houses and a low-regulation lifestyle,” as another Rice University report said.

Those same economic conditions are also crucial for businesses to grow and thrive. Like Texas, our country and the world need more pro-growth, pro-energy, and pro-innovation policies to help us build faster and cleaner.

The report you are about to read is based on a very important insight: it is possible to compare economies and determine which economic policies work and which do not. That is true on a state scale and a global scale.

Ask yourself: Would you rather have the U.S. economy or one like China, Russia, Mexico, or Haiti? Would you rather have the environmental quality of Switzerland or Venezuela?

Then ask: Why? What is it about the American and Swiss systems that fosters healthy economies and environments?

This report provides an answer: economic freedom. As this report will show, free economies are clean economies. Free economies produce the energy people need and deliver the clean environment that people demand.

In fact, generally, the more prosperous a society is, the cleaner its environment becomes. Prosperous economies have less pollution, and impoverished countries don’t have the resources to invest in innovative technologies like small modular nuclear reactors. Freedom, economic success, and cleanliness go together. Therefore, we need to export pro-growth policies.

The U.S. is leading the race in supporting economic freedom, but some states are far ahead of others. Texas’s success is in stark contrast to California’s failures, and we can all see the results. Economic freedom produces economic prosperity. We need more of it everywhere, and the following report explains why.