Everything is bigger in Texas. The brisket, gas stations, hair, land mass, and energy production.
For decades, Texas has been an energy-producing powerhouse. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Texas leads the nation in energy production, providing about one-quarter of the country’s domestically produced primary energy. And this is not by coincidence.
Texas has the privilege of being blessed with some of the most energy-rich natural resources in the country, but the frontier mentality that was central in the founding of the Lone Star State has been preserved through state customs, traditions, and a mentality that has manifested into decades of wise state-based policy. The likes of which have prioritized free markets and American exceptionalism in a way that has only contributed to Texas’s energy abundance.
The Texas mentality in relation to energy is not easily swayed by trends, pseudoscience, or multinational objectives that are based more in social posturing than carbon and climate science. The Texas mentality of energy abundance and prosperity has remained strong and steadfast in the decades since GFANZ and ESG have attempted to stifle common-sense energy policy.
Despite global corporations setting renewable energy mandates and politically charged calls for the same, Texas has remained an energy powerhouse by not shying away from traditional, reliable, and affordable sources of energy.
Texas produces more crude oil than any other state and, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, produced more than two-fifths of the nation’s total crude oil production in 2024. Texas provides one-fourth of the nation’s natural gas reserves, and 28 of the nation’s 100 largest natural gas fields are located, in whole or in part, in Texas. The Lone Star State is home to almost 15,000 miles of intrastate natural gas pipelines, and Texas exports natural gas via ships at the state’s two liquefied natural gas terminals along the Texas Gulf Coast. Texas has roughly nine billion tons of estimated recoverable coal reserves, making it the second-largest lignite producer in the United States.
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By sticking with natural gas and hydrocarbons for energy production in a world where that has become increasingly unpopular, the Texas approach to energy has been preserved.
The Texas approach means sticking with affordable and reliable energy as a means to promote the state's economy, provide prosperity for Texans, and create a rich environment as emerging technologies chart new paths towards the future. Texas boasts the second-largest economy in the country by GDP, according to WalletHub’s Best & Worst State Economies report.
If Texas’s economic boom isn’t enough to prove the success of the aforementioned energy policy, the latest news in data center development confirms it.
Chevron, in partnership with Microsoft, has announced a plan to develop a data center in West Texas, fueled by natural gas, under a 20-year agreement. The project, named Project Kilby, is going to be powered by large gas turbines supplied by GE Vernova and Caterpillar. The power from the natural gas turbines will be dedicated specifically to the data center and will remain off the electric grid or “behind the meter.”
At a time when state and local lawmakers are bidding to host the next big data center project, all in the name of economic development, Texas has shown once again that wise energy policy is the best way to incentivize growth and progress.
Furthermore, the decision from Microsoft to power with Chevron to power Project Kilby with natural gas is one that will protect Texas ratepayers from literally paying for the behemoth energy demands of the data center.
The large-scale energy demands of data centers in states that do not prioritize affordable and reliable sources of energy will almost certainly lead to disruptions in electricity reliability and increased costs for ratepayers. In these cases, data center development is harmful to a state’s economic wellbeing and irresponsible to citizens in the surrounding communities.
This is a proven phenomenon. According to a September 2025 report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), in seven states serviced by the large, regional transmission organization PJM Interconnection—Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia—utility customers collectively paid $4.4 billion for transmission upgrades needed to connect large data centers in 2024 alone.
Data centers and technological development for corporations should never come at the cost of ratepayers. Especially in America, where our economy is based on the principles of free markets and individualism.
Texas is proving, once again, that personal and economic prosperity is tied to energy abundance and that the best way to obtain energy abundance is through affordable and reliable sources of energy.
Samantha Fillmore (sfillmore@heartland.org) is the senior state government relations manager at The Heartland Institute.
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