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<br />~ .., r, <br /> <br />The regional projection trends should not be viewed as any more <br />plausible than those reported by the states but as being consistent across <br />the region and with respect to other regional study assumptions. The <br />regional and state projections are consistent, however, if those state <br />projection bands based on similar assumptions are aggregated; further" <br />more, a state study area projection derived from the regional projections <br />would fall within the low"high range projected by the state researchers. <br /> <br />1.2 SUMMARY <br />The High Plains Council, in formulating the High Plains Study, <br />recognized that development of the region's energy resources also affects <br />the economy of the High Plains, In fact, the High Plains Study Area is <br />one of the major crude oil and natural gas producing areas of the United <br />States, as is illustrated by the graphs in Figure 1"3. Although the <br />Study Area has only about 1 per cent of total uS population and 6 per <br />cent of the land area, the Study Area contributed 20 to 25 per cent of <br />domestic US crude oil and natural gas production over the last decade. <br />The decontrol of crude oil and natural gas prices will result in a <br />rapid increase in the value for these energy resources and, concomitantly, <br />in exploration and reservoir development activities throughout the US and <br />the Study Area. The direct impact of this increased activity on employ- <br />ment and income for the Study Area will be significant, The impact on <br />supplier and transportation industries should not be as great, hqwever, <br />due to the existence of major metropolitan centers such as Wichita, Denver, <br />and Oklahoma City, which are just outside the Study Area and which play <br />a major role in supplying the producing industries and in handling the <br />marketing of the oil and natural gas. Furthermore, some potentially major <br />industries, such as petroleum refining, are more closely tied to local <br />demand than to export demand. <br />Over the 40-year study period, the historical decline trend in crude <br />oil and marketed natural gas production in the High Plains Study Area is <br />generally expected to continue, However, crude oil production is expected <br />to increase from 1990 to 2000 due, primarily, to implementation of gas <br /> <br />1-5 <br /> <br />