Deck 10: Energy and the Environment in Texas

Question 1

Which of the following is not a good example of "extractive" economic activity in Texas?

A) cotton
B) oil
C) banking
D) cattle

Answer 1

C

Question 2

In 2018, 441 percent of U.S. oil consumption was from imported oil. How much of the natural gas consumed in the U.S. was imported?

A) 10 percent
B) 20 percent
C) 35 percent
D) 45 percent

Answer 2

A

Question 3

The oil and gas drilling technique that involves pumping water, sand, and chemicals underground at high pressure is called:

A) hydroponic intrusion
B) aqua fina
C) horizontal drilling
D) fracking

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which state uses the most energy overall?

A) California
B) Texas
C) New York
D) Alaska

Question 5

Columbus M. "Dad" Joiner brought in the "Daisy Bradford 3" in October 1930 to open which great Texas oil field?

A) Gulf Coast
B) Permian Basin
C) East Texas
D) Panhandle

Question 6

With 8.8 percent of the U.S. population, Texas produces about what amount of U.S. hazardous waste?

A) 15 percent
B) 33 percent
C) 50 percent
D) 65 percent

Question 7

Which kind of electric power users pay least for their electricity?

A) industrial
B) commercial
C) residential
D) transportation

Question 8

How many nuclear power plants operate in the U.S. today?

A) 85
B) 104
C) 126
D) 213

Question 9

Texas produces about what percent of CO₂, carbon dioxide, emissions from conventional power plants?

A) 30 percent
B) 20 percent
C) 102 percent
D) 3 percent

Question 10

What was the great natural resource and product of East Texas from the 1880s through the 1920s?

A) cattle
B) timber
C) sheep
D) coal

Question 11

Who was the author of the iconic Goodbye to a River (1960)?

A) Joaquin Pheonix
B) Frank Lubbock
C) John Graves
D) John R. Baylor

Question 12

The first great oil discovery in Texas occurred when the Spindletop well came in near Beaumont in what year?

A) 1881
B) 1901
C) 1921
D) 1931

Question 13

What state agency oversees and regulates the Texas oil and gas industry?

A) Texas Railroad Commission
B) Texas Environmental Quality Commission
C) Texas Energy Agency
D) Environmental Protection Agency

Question 14

In the 1950s Texas produced about half of all U.S. natural gas. Texas produces about what percent today?

A) 10 percent
B) 15 percent
C) 24 percent
D) 40 percent

Question 15

The natural gas field near Fort Worth, where "fracking" has proven quite useful, is called the:

A) Marcellus Shale
B) Haynesville Shale
C) Eagle Ford Shale
D) Barnett Shale

Question 16

The great East Texas oil field was discovered near:

A) Midland
B) Ranger
C) Kilgore
D) Beaumont

Question 17

Imports as a share of U.S. oil consumption peaked at about 63 percent in what year?

A) 1947
B) 1973
C) 1991
D) 2006

Question 18

The largest share of Texas's energy use goes to which sector?

A) residential
B) commercial
C) industrial
D) transportation

Question 19

Which energy source is the most polluting?

A) coal
B) natural gas
C) wind
D) nuclear

Question 20

How many nuclear power plants operate in Texas today?

A) 4
B) 8
C) 12
D) 16

Question 21

Texas is home to the only permanent site now operating for the storage of low-level nuclear waste. What company runs the site?

A) Expert Nuclear Control
B) Waste Control Specialists
C) Nuclear Cleanup Specialists
D) Safe Storage and Control

Question 22

What is the largest source of renewable electric power supplies?

A) wind
B) solar
C) hydro
D) biomass

Question 23

The Texas counterpart to the federal EPA is the:

A) Fish and Game Department
B) Texas Railroad Commission
C) Council of Governments
D) Environmental Quality Commission

Question 24

The largest complex of cement plants in the nation are around:

A) the Houston Ship Channel
B) Corpus Christi
C) Midlothian
D) El Paso

Question 25

The American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco) plant in El Paso is:

A) open
B) demolished though cleanup continues
C) in bankruptcy
D) being retrofitted with new anti-pollution equipment

Question 26

What are the economic and environmental plusses and minuses to Texas's commitment to the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries?

Question 27

The EPA reports that Texas produces about half of the hazardous wastes produced nationally each year. Why so much and do what do you think Texas's rights and responsibilities are in regard to these pollutants?

Question 28

What are the tradeoffs between lost jobs and additional costs to business of environmental regulation and the improved health and quality of life benefits that might result from them?

Question 29

What are the plusses and minuses of "fracking" as an energy extraction technique?

Question 30

What does it mean that the oil and gas industries account for 8.8 percent of state GDP but just 3.2 percent of Texas jobs?

Question 31

Why does Texas use more energy than California when California has half again as many people?

Question 32

Given that natural gas is less polluting than coal, what might Texas do to speed up the transition to natural gas and renewables?

Question 33

Why does Texas seem so frequently to resist mandates from the federal EPA on pollution control and management?

Question 34

The "Spindletop" well opened the great East Texas oil field in 1930,

Question 35

Today, Texas has about 41 percent of proven U.S. oil reserves.

Question 36

H.L. Hunt bought out "Dad" Joiner to become a major player in the Permian Basin oil field.

Question 37

Texas uses more than twice as much energy per resident as both California and Florida.

Question 38

Texas is one of the leading states in residential use of natural gas.

Question 39

Who wrote Goodbye to a River (1960)?_______

Question 40

The oil and gas drilling technique that involves pumping water, sand, and chemicals underground at high pressure is called_______

Question 41

The "Daisy Bradford 3" was in which great Texas oilfield?_______

Question 42

Texas is the largest producer of what type of renewable energy?_______

Question 43

The federal agency responsible for environmental regulation is_______

Question 44

What pollutant contributes most directly to smog?_______

Question 45

Texas has about_______ percent of the U.S. natural gas reserves?