A continued lull in the oil and gas industry should be causing problems for the small South Texas towns mainly supported by the Eagle Ford Shale. Of course, some are struggling but many of the surrounding cities are thriving. It's all because of some good planning advice.
San Antonian Steven Pizzini says filling up his car with gas isn't breaking the bank the way it did a couple years ago.
"A little extra money in my pocket so I can go spend it, have a good time!" he laughed.
However, Pizzini said some of his buddies in the oil and gas industry aren't having such a good time.
"They're definitely hurting. They're happy when it's high and they're not so happy when it's like this," Pizzini said.
It's a familiar feeling for people in the small towns surrounding the Eagle Ford Shale, but surprisingly, business could be worse. Around 2011, UTSA's Institute for Economic Development used research to help those towns find economic diversity, ways to make money outside of Eagle Ford.
"Developing your infrastructure. That includes water, waste water, roads, but also hospitals affordable broadband. To support industry, but not just the oil and gas industry," Thomas Tunstall, the director of the UTSA Institute for Economic Development.
Tunstall gave that advice to towns like Cotulla, Carrizo Springs and Gonzales. They're all towns that relied solely on the Eagle Ford Shale years ago, and experienced huge growth during the recent oil boom.
"It was November 2014 OPEC held the infamous meeting around Thanksgiving and decided not to cut production and that's where oil prices really started to tank," Tunstall said.
Now that oil production has plummeted, they're thankful they took Tunstall's advice.
Gonzales, the birthplace of the Texas Revolution and the "Come and Take It" flag, has reinvented itself as a historic tourist destination.
Cotulla is building sports facilities and working on becoming a free trade zone to attract truckers.
Carrizo Springs is now covered with olive trees, creating a big olive oil market. Those Carrizo Springs area olives are used to make olive oils like the Texas Cowgirl brand, made by Texas Olive Ranch. That brand is now sold at H-E-B stores all over Texas.
Side industries are keeping these towns afloat and making them sustainable for decades to come.
"The goal as we work with the communities is to ensure their sustainability 50 - 100 years from now. What lots of people know is that there are at least a couple hundred ghost towns in Texas. We appear to have enough ghost towns. We want to make sure these communities that are seeing the boom from the Eagle Ford, remain viable into the future," Tunstall said.
Tunstall and his team are continuing to work with other communities surrounding Eagle Ford to help them create more economic diversity.