<P> Although from the outset of the oil boom there were efforts at conservation and protection of the environment, they generally enjoyed little success . Because of the ease of finding oil in the early decades, wells were often not fully developed before prospectors began looking for more productive wells . The wildcatters not only wasted the valuable resource, but created avoidable environmental contamination with the numerous oil strikes . The rush to extract oil frequently led to the construction of poor storage facilities where leaks were common and water pollution became a serious issue . Parallel to this, the clearing of fields for oil exploration and the demand for lumber to be used in new construction, all of which followed major logging activities in the 19th century, destroyed most of the once dense forest lands in the state . Later environmental management efforts helped restore some of the forest lands but they remain a shadow of what they were before statehood . </P> <P> Industrial activities, which had little regulation, created substantial air pollution . The practice of burning off gas pockets in new oil fields was common, thus increasing the problem . As the Houston area came to be the most heavily industrialized area in the state, it accumulated the most serious air quality issues . By the 1950s, airline pilots were able to use lines of haze in the air to navigate into the city . Though air quality in urban areas has since improved, as of 2012 Texas remains the leading producer of greenhouse gases in the United States, and as of 2017 NASA ranks Houston as having the worst air quality in the nation (though other sources rank the city somewhat better). </P> <P> Another serious effect created by the oil - related industries has been the pollution around the Houston Ship Channel and in Galveston Bay . By the 1970s, these waterways were among the most polluted waters in the United States . Though industrial sources were major sources of pollution, urbanization around the bay also contributed significantly to pollution levels . In recent decades, most of the pollution in the bay is the result of storm run - off from various smaller commercial, agricultural, and residential sources, as opposed to the major industrial complexes . Conservation efforts in the mid to late 20th century by area industries and municipalities have helped to dramatically improve water quality in the bay reversing at least some of the earlier damage to the ecosystem . </P> <P> By the 1940s, production in the East Texas Oil Field and oil prices stabilized . Though the major urban areas continued to grow, the extreme growth patterns of the first three decades began to slow . As western Texas and the panhandle region began to be more fully explored, the Permian Basin gradually became the top producing area of the state . Though independent oil companies were still an important part of the industry for some time, the major new strikes were increasingly made by established companies . World War II helped complete the state's transition to an industrialized and urbanized state with oil facilitating the transition . </P>

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