Power Hungry Chapter 24: America’s Secret Google By: Robert Bryce Presented By: Logan Fischer

“ The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights” – J. Paul Getty This statement is true in every country other than America, as Americans, rather than the state, own the minerals that are on their private properties. The private ownership of mineral rights is why America has become so prosperous and continues to lead the world in developing new technologies to extract hydrocarbons. About 1.7 million oil and gas wells have been drilled in the last century.

According to Robert Bryce’s calculations, individual Americans made about $21.5 billion on mineral interest payments in (Google made $21.8 billion in 2008) About 1 million Americans own mineral interests. A neighborhood group in the area around the Barnett Shale in Texas was paid $25,000 per acre for the lease rights. Energy companies paid the residents of DeSoto Parish, an area around the Haynesville Shale gas play, $27 million just for the rights to drill the land.

The domestic gas and oil industry creates jobs. In 2005, about 71,000 jobs in Colorado were directly attributed to the oil and gas industry. A study by Oklahoma State University in 2008 estimated that the oil and gas industry employs about 76,000 people in Oklahoma alone, and these workers are paid about $8.9 billion dollars a year. U.S. oil and gas sector employs about 1.8 million people. The strong domestic oil and gas sector in America keeps these jobs here.

References Bryce, Robert. Power Hungry: The Myths of "Green" Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future. First. New York: Public Affairs, Print.