Chapter 3 Summary and Analysis

In 1901, with the discovery of the Spindletop field in Southeast Texas, the United States becomes the world's top oil producer. Due to the abundance of oil, in the 1930s the state governments of Texas and Oklahoma limit the number of days per month oil companies can operate in order to protect oil prices. This practice, called prorating, continues into the 1960s. With the discovery of vast oil deposits in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, America's future as the world's oil source looks bright. Several oil-related environmental disasters result in a huge and very effective environmental movement targeted at the oil industry. Construction on the Alaska Pipeline is delayed nearly a decade, and new offshore exploration is banned everywhere in the United States except for the Gulf of Mexico. United States oil production peaks in 1970 and then begins a gradual, but steady, decline.

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