Dr. Thomas Tunstall has been to Cuero a half-dozen times over the past six years. From his first visit he has preached diversification.
He is the senior research director for the Institute for Economic Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
He was here Friday, May 5 as the monthly speaker for Cuero Development Corporation. The meeting was held at Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum.
In those early visits, the price of oil coming out of the Eagle Ford Shale was over $100 a barrel. DeWitt County was one of the top oil producers in Texas.
Dr. Tunstall encouraged cities and counties in the shale play to use their new found revenue to develop growth outside the oil industry. Some did and some didn’t.
One of his favorite quotes is from Mark Twain, “History does not repeat itself but it does rhyme.”
In 2010 the economic impact of the EFS in its 15 primary counties was about $2.9 billion. By 2013 it had topped $70 billion.