Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Louisiana and Texas. Houston is the undisputed capital of the US oil industry. The
western Great Plains is another major area of production of coal and hydrocarbons.
The sparsely populated areas of the western mountain regions are often heavily
dependent on extractive industries. Gold and uranium mines provide one in three
jobs to residents of Elko County in Nevada, which is an important historic site of the
nineteenth-century Gold Rush, whose ghost towns have become tourist attractions.
7%
6%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%
0%
U.S.A.
Wyoming
Louisiana
Alaska
Figure 2.13.
Importance of mining industry in several states in 2000
With its sparse population and very rich subsoil, Wyoming is now the state most
heavily dependent on extractive industries (see Figure 2.13). Louisiana is ranked
second, before Alaska. The dependence on extractive industries makes the
economies of these states vulnerable, and often triggers serious environmental
problems such as the destruction of land by strip mining, chemical pollution,
abandoned mines, and land subsidence. A report from the USGS estimates that 80%
of the subsidence of the Mississippi delta is due to the massive extraction of
subterranean hydrocarbons.
2.6. The case of fossil fuels
Since the Industrial Revolution, coal, oil, and natural gas have been at the heart
of the US and world economies. Endowed with great amounts of primary and
secondary sedimentary rocks, the American subsoil has proved to be very rich in
fossil fuels.
2.6.1.
The world's second largest producer of coal
Vast coal resources in the Appalachians enabled heavy industry in the US to
develop during the 19th century, making Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the home of the
steel barons.
