AIPG-TX

Workforce in Texas

• 59,000: geoscience employees (non-federal/self-employed) in 2015¹
• $103,500: average median geoscience employee salary¹
• 270,000: jobs in extractive industries in 2015²
• 80: academic geoscience departments³

Water in Texas

• 7.7 billion gallons/day: total groundwater withdrawal⁴
• 17 billion gallons/day: total surface water withdrawal⁴
• 4 billion gallons/day: public water supply withdrawal⁴
• 6.8 million gallons/day: irrigation water withdrawal⁴
• 680 million gallons/day: self-supplied industrial fresh water withdrawal⁴
• 90% of the population is served by public water supplies⁴
• 174 counties in 2015, and 11 counties in 2016, designated as primary natural disaster areas caused by drought⁵
• 275 USGS stream gages in Texas⁶

Energy and Minerals Production in Texas

• $4.8 billion: value of nonfuel mineral production in 2016⁷
• 1.26 billion barrels: crude oil produced in 2015, #1 in the nation²
• 8.8 trillion cubic feet: natural gas produced in 2015, #1 in the nation²
• 43.7 million short tons: coal produced in 2014²
• 45 million megawatt hours: wind power produced in 2015, #1 in the nation²

Natural Hazards in Texas

FEMA statistics for Texas

• 20 severe storm disaster declarations since 1953⁸
• 20 hurricane/tropical storm disaster declarations since 1953⁸
• 36 flooding disaster declarations since 1953⁸
• 15 tornado disaster declarations since 1953⁸
• 154 fire disaster declarations since 1953⁸
• $1.66 billion: mitigation grants since 2005⁸
• $1.950 billion: preparedness grants since 2005⁸
• $3.73 billion: public assistance grants since 2005⁸
• 84 weather and/or climate events, each with costs exceeding $1 billion (inflation adjusted) 1980-2016⁹

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geologic Mapping

• $1.06 billion: total USGS budget; 1.6% up from FY 2015¹⁰
• The USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP) funds geologic mapping projects by states (STATEMAP) and universities (EDMAP)
• $2.6 million: Texas STATEMAP funding (1993-2016)¹¹
• 40 Texas counties mapped or partially mapped with STATEMAP funds (1993-2010)¹¹
• 439 geologic maps in Texas created with STATEMAP support (1993-2010)¹¹
• 20,000 square miles in Texas mapped through STATEMAP (1993-2010)¹¹
• 4 Texas universities participated in EDMAP¹¹

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

• $5.6 billion: total NASA Science budget; 6.6% up from FY 2015¹²
• $1.9 billion: total NASA Earth Science budget; 7.7% up from FY 2015¹³
• GRACE satellites measure groundwater changes in all of Texas¹⁴
• SMAP satellite measures soil moisture in all of Texas¹⁴

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

• $5.8 billion: total NOAA budget; 5.9% up from FY 2015¹⁵
• GOES satellites provide state-of-the-art weather forecasting over Texas¹⁶
• DISCOVR satellite monitors radiation and air quality over Texas¹⁶
• 71 National Weather Service observing stations in Texas¹⁷
• 634 National Weather Service cooperative observer sites in Texas¹⁷

National Science Foundation (NSF)

• $7.46 billion: total NSF budget; 1.6% up from FY 2015¹⁸
• $1.28 billion: total NSF Geosciences Directorate (GEO) budget; 1.6% up from FY 2015¹⁸
• 1,093 NSF grants in Texas totaling $343.3 million in 2016¹⁸
• 118 NSF GEO grants in Texas totaling $67.5 million in 2016¹⁸
• $100 million: NSF grants at U.T. Austin, the 6th largest grant academic recipient in 2016¹⁸
• $46 million: NSF GEO grant to Texas A&M, the largest NSF GEO grant to an academic institution in 2016¹⁸

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

• $8.14 billion: total EPA budget; 0% up from FY 2015¹⁹
• 66 active/proposed superfund sites²⁰
• $1.4 billion: cumulative federal grants for Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) in Texas (1997-2016)²¹
• $60.1 million: annual value of federal DWSRF grants in Texas in 2016²¹

Major Federal Facilities in Texas

• NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston
• NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences, El Paso
• DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory, Sugar Land
• USGS Texas Water Science Center, Austin

References

¹Data Derived from Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics (2015)
²DOI U.S. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
³American Geosciences Institute Directory of Geoscience Departments (2016)
⁴USGS Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2010
⁵USDA Farm Service Agency: Disaster Designation Information, 2015 (2015 Crop Year & 2016 Crop Year)
⁶USGS WaterWatch Total Streamgage Stations (March 10, 2017)
⁷USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2017
⁸FEMA Summary of Disaster Declarations and Grants (2016)
⁹NOAA Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters: Mapping
¹⁰DOI Budget and Performance
¹¹USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program
¹²NASA Budget Documents, Strategic Plans and Performance Reports
¹³American Institute of Physics FY2016 Appropriations
¹⁴Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE); Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP); Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE); Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)
¹⁵NOAA Total Budget
¹⁶Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) & Deep Space Climate Observatory (DISCOVR)
¹⁷NOAA in Your State
¹⁸NSF Budget Internet Information System
¹⁹EPA Budget and Spending
²⁰EPA Search for Superfund Sites Where You Live (March 2017)
²¹EPA Drinking Water State Revolving Fund National Information Management System Reports

Date updated: 2017-07-26

Texas Mineral Commodities

For PDF (here).

Written and compiled by Jeremiah Bernau for AGI, April 2017