Texas

E

Manufacturing

Manufacturing has expanded rapidly in Texas. In 1996 income generated by manufacturing in the state was $117 billion dollars; about 1,055,000 people earned wages in manufacturing companies. In terms of the numbers of workers employed, the leading industries in Texas are the manufacturers of industrial machinery, electrical equipment, fabricated metals, processed foods, and chemicals. In terms of total industrial income generated in the state, however, the chemical industry leads. It is followed by petroleum refineries, makers of machinery, food processors, electronic goods manufacturers, and firms making fabricated metals and transportation equipment.

A well-defined belt of manufacturing activity extends along the Gulf Coast, encompassing the Beaumont-Port Arthur-Orange area, Houston, the Galveston-Texas City area, Freeport, Port Lavaca, and Corpus Christi. The development of these areas has been spurred by the presence of raw materials, the availability of natural gas for the generation of electric power, and the fact that the coastal cities have access to the sea and can reach world markets. Chemical products, especially petrochemicals, or those made from petroleum, are major products of the Gulf Coast. One of the major end products is synthetic rubber, of which Texas accounts for much of the nation’s production. Although oil refining is found in almost every part of the state, one of the world’s densest concentrations of refineries is in the Houston-Beaumont area. Houston is also a noted manufacturer of oil-field equipment and other products for the oil industry, such as storage containers. Tugs and barges used in offshore drilling operations are produced in Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Galveston.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) operates the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. The center has attracted many aerospace industries that require highly trained specialists, and research plays an important part in its operations.

A second belt of manufacturing cities extends from south to north, all the way to the Oklahoma border, and includes such cities as Sherman, Denison, Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Temple, Austin, and San Antonio. Dallas has factories that manufacture oil-field equipment, automobiles, and cotton-gin equipment, and the city is a leading center for the electronics and aerospace industries. Other industries in Dallas include cement manufacturing, chemical production, and food processing. Fort Worth is one of the major producing centers for airplanes and helicopters in the United States, and it also has a share in Texas’s aerospace industry. The primary center in Texas for meat packing is Fort Worth. Another leading city in this north-south industrial belt is San Antonio. The diversified manufactures of this city include petroleum products, food products, and portland cement. However, San Antonio is most noted as the home of a number of large Army and Air Force bases that employ thousands of civilian and military personnel.

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Away from the major manufacturing belts are several other important industrial centers. These include Odessa and Midland, in the western Texas petroleum district, which specialize in oil refining, oil-field equipment, and the manufacture of chemicals. Lubbock is the center for cotton trade and marketing for the High Plains area and is among the world’s largest centers for cottonseed-oil production. Amarillo, in the Panhandle, is a leading food-processing center and the commercial center of the region.

Because of its ample electric power supply, Texas has become an important processor of ores brought in from other states and from foreign countries. One of the world’s largest copper refineries is in El Paso, and the only tin smelter in the United States is located in Texas City. Copper is also refined at Amarillo, where there is a plentiful local supply of natural gas. Corpus Christi has zinc-smelting operations and plants that process bauxite into finished aluminum.

F

Electricity

Texas’s large supply of natural gas, together with its ample lignite reserves, has enabled the state to meet rapidly increasing demands from its growing population and industries for electric power. Texas ranks first among the states in electricity production. In 2005, 89 percent of the electricity generated in the state came from conventional steam power plants fueled by natural gas or by coal. The state’s 4 nuclear power plants produce 10 percent of the electricity generated. Two nuclear plants are at Glen Rose, near Fort Worth, and two at Bay City, in southeastern Texas. Only 0.3 percent of Texas’s electrical generation comes from hydroelectric facilities. Large hydropower plants are at Buchanan Dam on the Colorado River and at Possum Kingdom Dam and Whitney Dam on the Brazos River.

G

Transportation

Texas has a good highway system that reaches all parts of the state but is especially dense in the more populous eastern sections. In 2004 the state had 487,914 km (303,176 mi) of highway, more than any other state. The total included 5,203 km (3,233 mi) of the federal interstate highway system, which connects the largest cities with adjacent states and Mexico.

Texas also has more railroad track than any other state, some 16,489 km (10,246 mi) in 2004. Of the goods shipped by rail and originating in the state, 35 percent are chemicals and 21 percent are nonmetallic minerals.

Air transportation has been especially important to Texans because of the great distances they must often travel from one city to another. There are 31 airports in Texas, including private airports. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was the nation’s third busiest airport in 1996, handling 26.6 million passengers. Two airports in Houston also rank among the nation’s busiest.

H

Pipelines

One of the most interesting aspects of freight transportation in Texas is the intensive use made of pipelines to transport oil and natural gas. From the time that natural gas began to be utilized as a fuel, instead of being wasted during petroleum-extracting operations, pipelines were constructed to transport the natural gas. It is estimated that gas from Texas reaches three-quarters of the United States by pipeline. Pipelines also move crude oil from fields in Texas to refineries along the Gulf Coast and to various points outside Texas. Refined petroleum products also move by pipeline into the interior of the United States. One of the most ambitious pipeline projects undertaken to date, about 2,480 km (about 1,540 mi) long, was built in the early 1960s. It brings refinery products from Houston to points in the eastern United States, including Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New York City, which is the pipeline’s terminus.

I

Trade

Water transportation plays an important part in Texas commerce. The state has 13 deepwater ports along the Gulf Coast, which have access to the Atlantic Ocean. They are also served by the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, a section of the Intracoastal Waterway system. This sheltered water route stretches the length of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, enabling barges to shuttle among Gulf Coast ports and easily reach ports on the Mississippi River and on the East Coast.

Houston is Texas’s busiest port and ranks among the top three ports of the United States. Corpus Christi, Texas City, Port Arthur, and Beaumont are next in importance after Houston. The other deepwater ports are Freeport; Galveston; Harbor Island; Port Lavaca; Brownsville and Port Isabel, in the extreme south of the state; and Orange and Sabine Pass, near the Louisiana border. Ships reach the ports of Houston and Beaumont by means of ship canals, because these ports lie inland from the Gulf of Mexico. Victoria, on the Guadalupe River, is an important port for inland waterborne commerce.

The greater part of the tonnage handled by Texas ports is destined for other parts of the United States. Petroleum and petroleum products make up a large part of these shipments. Texas ports also handle a large volume of ores, such as aluminum, imported from foreign countries. They export large quantities of wheat, sorghum, sulfur, and cotton.

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