The Gulf Coast Economic Development District serves thirteen counties along the upper gulf coast of Texas. This 13-county area, known as the Gulf Coast Planning Region-16, encompasses approximately 12,500 square miles and includes more than 4.8 million people.
History
The Gulf Coast region achieved a prosperous economy due to its fortuitous endowment of natural resources; first cotton and cattle, then crude oil. From 1970 until the early 1980s the Gulf Coast region was one of the fastest growing in the country, bolstered primarily by the strength of the petroleum industry. Even though the energy sector still plays a major role in the regional economy, the region is becoming more inured to its fluctuations as the economy becomes more diversified.
Infrastructure
Sewage Collection and Treatment Facilities: In 1995 there were over 750 private and public domestic wastewater discharges in the central urbanized area of the region. In the remainder of the region there are over 100 additional domestic wastewater discharges. Cities and other waste disposal entities across the region continue to make major investments in their wastewater treatment facilities and collection systems. This significant capital spending is due partly to population growth and also to meet state and federal regulatory requirements. Securing funding for major improvements to residential and industrial wastewater facilities remains a challenge for smaller communities in the region.
Water Sources: The region's water supply has gradually shifted from groundwater to surface water sources. This is especially true for the urbanized areas in and around the City of Houston, which has experienced major land subsidence in the past. Most municipalities in the area have adequate system capacities for potable water and fire protection. However, many do not have adequate capacity to support additional industrial development.
Transportation: The transportation network in the metropolitan area of the region is vast, encompassing water, air, and land transportation. Two Interstate Highway facilities pass through the region, IH-10 and IH-45. There are also three US highways and an well-maintained network of state highways and farm-to-market roads. Two toll roads, operated by the Harris County Toll Road Authority, complement the freeway system.
Traffic congestion in the more urban parts of the region is a big issue and may require new thinking to reflect the need to provide an alternative to the dependence on autos. Increased alternatives for public transportation facilities will give system users a truly multi-modal transportation system.
Three regional commercial airports serve the region. The region also has major maritime facilities. Four major ports serve the region: Port of Houston, Port of Freeport, Port of Texas City, and Port of Galveston.
Regional Population
The US Bureau of the Census released year 2000 population counts, as shown on Figure 1. Figure 1 further shows the major concentration of growth in the region to be almost exclusive to the Metropolitan Statistical Area of the region, which is comprised of Harris County and its seven contiguous counties. Substantial further growth is forecast over the next twenty years.
Economic expansion and international events have shaped the region’s population growth and settlement patterns. Over the past three decades, the region has experienced strong population growth in response to the numerous employment opportunities. Between 1970 and 1980, the region’s population grew at an annual rate of 3.6 percent, adding almost 97,113 people each year. The region managed to grow at 1.8 percent between 1980 and 1990, despite the crisis in the petroleum industry during that time. Between 1990 and 2000 the region saw its significant growth similar the growth of the 1970s. The 2000 census shows the regions population to be at 4,854,454, almost a 25% increase since 1990. As in the past, the growth tends to center around the major metropolitan area of Houston, however much of the growth activity is concentrated in the suburban counties surrounding Harris, with Montgomery and Fort Bend counties leading the way with 61% and 57% growth over the past decade. The expansion of the metropolitan area continues, in 1990 50% of the Metro population lived within 14 miles of Downtown Houston. In 2000 that number was reduce to 45% and the median radius is now 16 miles. Despite the implications associated with urban sprawl, the graph in Figure 2 seems to indicate that despite expansion, the older suburbs appear to be filling in. In other words, as the Metropolitan area expands, the densities in the newly expanded areas continue to increase at about the same rate as the central growth area.
The median family income and per capita income varies significantly for each county in the region. The 1990 Census shows the regional median family income is $33.162, slightly higher than the state average, and slightly lower than the national average. The total per capita income of $12,310 is slightly less than the state level and significantly lower than the national average. The relative modesty in the regional income levels, while partially engendered by the low cost of living along the Gulf Coast, is a point of some concern. It is partially a result of the pockets of economically distressed areas in the urban areas and the generally lower wages found in the rural periphery. It can also serve as an advantage to employers looking for an economical workforce that is both abundant and well educated.
Labor Force
Consistent with regional population growth, the labor force has continued to grow, particularly in the more urban Metropolitan Statistical Area. Although the labor force has been steadily increasing, unemployment has fallen in both absolute and percentile terms. Over the past year, the unemployment rate has fallen by a tenth of a percent; and it has fallen one and a half percent since 1990. With the relative consistency these numbers reflect, it would be safe to assume that despite the regions rapid growth and expansion, the job market appears to be able to keep pace with the more general demographic trends of regional growth and expansion. This is in spite of recent nationwide upturn in unemployment as shown in Figure 3.
While the region has seen an overall decline in unemployment, the trends are more varied at the county level. Walker has consistently had the lowest unemployment rate, while Matagorda has had a rate more than twice the regional average and has recently seen that rate increase. Harris has the highest number of unemployed, with Galveston and Brazoria a distant second and third. Since 1995, Harris has witnessed a relatively steady unemployment rate hovering at or around the national average, Galveston has experienced a fluctuating rate, and Brazoria is recently improving due to recent significant retail and residential growth. Overall, the regional employment trends are promising. Currently, the service sector is the predominant employer in the region - a fact that is true across much of the nation.
Environmental
Air quality
The eight-county Houston CMSA, which includes 8 of the District’s 13 counties, is classified as a severe non-attainment area for ground level ozone. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), Texas’ lead environmental agency, has developed rules to execute its State Implementation Plan (SIP) to bring the area into compliance with federal Clean Air Act requirements.
Several of the rules under evaluation have the potential to significantly impact the region’s economy. Foremost among these are extensive retrofitting of industrial facilities to reduce air emissions of ozone precursors. Other potential rules may affect the hours of operation and fuels used by construction equipment. Equipment operations at port and airport facilities may also be impacted.
Habitat Protection
The upper Texas Gulf Coast region has numerous wetlands and other wildlife habitat resources. Balancing habitat protection while continuing to facilitate new development will continue to be a factor in shaping the regions growth patterns.
Water Quality
A large number of the region’s waterways do not meet their designated use standards. The federal Clean Water Act requires that a “Total Maximum Daily Load” analysis be conducted on each “impaired” waterway segment. The results of this analysis may lead to recommendations for more stringent requirements on wastewater discharges, as well as land use and construction management techniques.
Energy Efficiency
There is increasing interest in looking at building codes as a means towards achieving energy efficiency, as well as improving air quality by reducing the “heat island” effect often created by urban development. The City of Houston established a task force to look at potential strategies for improving its building code to achieve these objectives.
Other Issues impacting the Gulf Coast Economy
Utilities Deregulation
Beginning January 1, 2002, Texas' electric industry is opening to customer choice. This will have a potential tremendous impact on the Gulf Coast Region’s Economy. Fifty percent of the region's economic base—those sectors of the local economy that export goods and services outside the region—is related to energy. With deregulation looming, changes in the structure of the industry have led oil and gas firms to develop new ways to capitalize on skills, international contacts, and expertise. Houston has become a center for these new energy ventures. The implications of deregulation on the region’s economy are twofold. First, competition leads to lower prices, which leads to increased consumer savings. Household utilities savings translates to increased local retail spending, which in theory leads to more jobs.
Second, aside from the prior obvious economic implications of deregulation, there are concerns. One of the primary concerns with deregulation was the potential impact on the role of utility companies in economic development. In a competitive system, utility companies will no longer have the same incentives as before to recruit corporate relocations and expansions. Historically, public utility companies have significantly contributed to the economic development of the state of Texas. As a provider of electricity in a regulated market, a utility company benefits when new electricity users enter the market. Consequently, Texas-based utility companies have had tremendous incentive to encourage businesses to locate with their service area. With increased competition, providers are likely to choose to shift their marketing efforts toward increasing or maintaining a market share, rather than working with communities to bring new customers in. The impending absence of this recruitment work of utilities is an important loss to smaller communities in the region who lack adequate resources to maintain adequate economic development programs. In fact, many of these areas tend to regard the local utility as their sole economic development ally. The Perryman Group estimates that utility companies played some role in bringing more than 144,000 jobs to the state in a typical recent year.
Quality of Life
Across the nation, as the "new economy" continues to become more and more reliant on technology as a driving force, quality of life becomes a more important consideration for business in their decisions to locate. A relatively high quality of life attracts the highly skilled talent necessary for business to excel in a global economy. Quality of life (QOL) includes health, safety, a sense of place and community, educational opportunities, cultural and recreational amenities, and scenic beauty. The Gulf Coast region is particularly strong in some of these factors, including: accessibility to arts and entertainment, cost of living and doing business, and diversity, but may have perceived weaknesses in other areas. The GCEDD understands that the region must offer a quality of life that will attract and retain intelligent, educated people, which are essential to today’s high-value activities. Currently, H-GAC is developing a Creating Quality Places initiative. This is a technical assistance program that provides a "tool kit" for building quality features associated with QOL factors important to communities, residents and the economy.
Housing
Housing Issues Report to be added soon.
|
