The invisible hand of the marketplace is alive and well in Texas. Over the past 12 months Texas has created 245,000 jobs. That accounts for more than half of the jobs created in America during that time.

Not coincidentally, Texas has the second lowest tax burden of the 50 states. Even conservative estimates have projected a $10 billion surplus for the next biennium. Texas also leads the nation in energy production — 30% of the natural gas and 20% of oil produced in America comes from Texas.

So what can the rest of the nation learn from Texas when it comes to energy, the economy, and the environment?

There is debate in Congress right now as to whether the Atlantic and Pacific Coastlines should be opened to offshore drilling. In Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, we have been producing millions of barrels of oil for years with no environmental consequences. Offshore drilling safety is so advanced that even during Hurricane Katrina not one drilling rig in the Gulf experienced a significant environmental event.

In 1989, Texas Parks and Wildlife collaborated with the oil and gas industry and the Federal government to create the “Rigs to Reefs” program. Under the program, an oil company converts a decommissioned oil rig into an underwater reef. The companies pay the entire cost of the conversion and even donate a portion of the money they save back to Texas.

Since the programs inception, and at no cost to the state, Texas has added more than 100 healthy, vibrant, and productive reefs to our coastline where before there was an underwater mud plain. Texas has chosen to work with the industry instead of against it, and as a result, the Texas coast is cleaner and more productive than ever.

Another area where Texas leads the nation is in Enhanced Oil Recovery. In 1972, long before CO2 was considered pollution, oil producers in Texas were treating it as a commodity. EOR works by pumping CO2 into a depleted oil field to push out previously unrecoverable oil. The Texas government did not create this market. Instead, it got out of the way and allowed oil producers to find the most efficient way to extract additional oil. EOR now accounts for 20% of daily production in Texas.

Using conservative estimates, the benefits of EOR production will result in $200 billion in additional revenue and 1.5 million jobs created in Texas. The rest of the nation is catching on. The Department of Energy estimates that by using EOR technology, America could add 89 billion barrels of oil to its reserves, leading to untold billions in potential economic growth — not to mention getting the United States closer to “energy independence.”

The Texas marketplace also is on the cutting edge of other clean sources of energy. The EOR infrastructure already in place is attracting investment in another clean energy technology — Carbon Capture and Storage. A conventional fossil fuel power plant using CCS technology captures the CO2 before it leaves the plant, instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. The CO2 is then stored underground where it is sequestered for a millennia. This is an expensive addition to the cost of energy production. However, innovative entrepreneurs are planning to sell the CO2 to EOR producers in order to lower the cost of production for both industries.

The Texas government also stayed out of the market when times were bad. In the 1980s, when oil was $10 a barrel, we didn’t bail out our producers. Many businesses failed and many fortunes were lost. However, the ones that survived were leaner, meaner, and more efficient. Unfortunately, in Washington D.C., Congress is talking about a “windfall profits tax,” which would punish the very producers we depend on. In Texas, we prefer to let the market work. Profit is the motivation that keeps oil flowing.

The concern over global warming is having a profound impact on how America will produce the energy it needs in the next century. Texas already produces more wind energy than any other state. By 2007, Texas installed wind capacity of 4,296 megawatts, enough to power about 1 million homes. On July 17, the Texas Public Utility Commission approved a plan to add 18,456 megawatts of additional transmission capacity for wind power from rural West Texas to the metropolitan areas of the state.

When it comes to energy and the economy, we look at the industry as part of the solution, not part of the problem. So far, the results have been good.

Ms. Crownover represents District 64 in the Texas House of Representatives and is the chair of Budget and Oversight for the Energy Resources Committee.