Energy Production Large Contributor to Fast GDP Growth in Five States – Bureau of Economic Analysis

Fossil energy production was a large contributor to fast GDP growth in five states in 2013, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reports:

Although mining was not a significant contributor to real GDP growth for the nation, it did play a key role in several states. This industry was a large contributor in five of the fastest growing states: North Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Colorado. In North Dakota, the fastest growing state in 2013, mining contributed 3.61 percentage points to the state’s 9.7 percent growth in real GDP. By contrast, Alaska was the only state where real GDP decreased in 2013, primarily due to a decline in mining that resulted from lower output on the state’s North Slope.

Okay, the BEA doesn’t actually say “fossil energy production” and instead uses the less descriptive term “mining.” But what’s mostly ‘mined’ in those states is fossil fuels:

• Among oil producing states, North Dakota, Alaska, and Oklahoma rank 2nd, 4th, and 5th, respectively. GDP declined in Alaska because oil production declined.
• Among gas producing states, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Colorado rank 3rd, 4th, and 5th, respectively.
• Among coal producing states, West Virginia and Wyoming rank 1st and 2nd, respectively.

For more detail (albeit with somewhat dated info), see EIA charts and table below the break.

Note, too, 2013 GDP growth was strong in Texas (3.7%), the nation’s top oil and gas producing state, and also strong in Utah (3.8%), a state with significant coal and gas production. Idaho was the only non-fossil energy producing state with fast GDP growth (4.1%) in 2013.

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, policies promoted by the Obama administration and/or its allies — carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, drilling/fracking moratoria, energy export bans — are designed to suppress or even ban fossil energy production.

Source: EIA

Source: EIA

Source: EIA