When Boom Looks Like Bust

With crude oil prices climbing toward $140 a barrel, one might think that energy-rich west Texas is walking mighty tall.

And that would be largely true. "Boom times are back for now," the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said of the region in a report this spring.

But there are exceptions. The Bond Buyer reports that the Buena Vista Independent School District in the heart of the oil-rich Permian Basin is having trouble keeping up with a spike in diesel fuel prices for its school buses. As a result, the district may have to curtail a route to neighboring Ector County, where 25 of the district's 135 students live.

The irony is not lost on local officials.

"It's a constant source of discussion about how we can bring it out of the ground right here and pay so much to put it in our tanks," Mike Adkins, a spokesman for the Ector County Independent School District, told the Bond Buyer.

The paper notes that under Texas law, school districts cannot retain additional revenue from rising property values.

The Albuquerque Journal, meanwhile, has reported that demands for power from the southeast New Mexico oil patch may cause power blackouts for some residents of eastern New Mexico and west Texas.

Xcel Energy is warning customers that without enough electricity capacity, there may be hour-long shutoffs during peak use this summer.

Test a Texan, drive 75?