In a free society based on educational attainment, innovation, a strong work ethic, and the ability to recognize and take advantage of economic opportunity, a bright future will always be in hand.

In parts of South Texas, including a new swath of Senate District 19, the future is also beneath our feet.

Indeed, for producers of the Eagle Ford Shale and the thousands of Texans working in the oil fields and related jobs, the future is now.

The extraction of oil from this prolific formation is already affecting the economy and boosting tax revenues for the state. In fact, sales tax collections in January exceeded $2 billion, the second time in three months they have done so.

While restaurants and the service sector played a role, State Comptroller Susan Combs gave the energy industry most of the credit, saying the monthly increase was led by the oil and natural gas-related sectors.

The state collected $1.98 billion in sales tax revenues in the last month of 2011, the best December in at least five years. In her report, Combs noted that in the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 2011, sales tax revenues from mining surged by 72 percent, with West Texas playing its part as well. The increase, she said, resulted from "the boom in the Eagle Ford Shale play and the increased activity in the Permian Basin resulting from higher oil prices and improved extraction technologies."

Great opportunities often come with great challenges, and Combs touched on one of them in her report. To get oil out of shale, producers employ hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, an extraction process that requires millions of gallons of water to get each well on line and producing. A steady supply of water will be necessary for Eagle Ford Shale production to continue, but can we count on that?

The Texas Railroad Commission has stated that there's enough water in the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer in South Texas to meet the demand for oil shale production and other users, such as the agriculture industry.

Going forward, we need to know how much water is available in the aquifer and other South Texas reservoirs for all purposes, particularly with forecasts for an extended drought. This information will help us plan for the future — one that includes the continued play of the Eagle Ford Shale.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama proclaimed that, "Nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy." I agree, and I believe that innovation will allow the United States to pursue its own energy resources — with the goal of independence — in a way that protects the environment and other crucial industries.

Remember, innovation is one of the tools that puts the future in our hands. I am confident that it will help us extend the life and the economic promise of the Eagle Ford Shale.

This column was written by Dist. 19 Texas State Sen. Carlos Uresti.