Sponsored by TXOGA, the 10-week, 50-school statewide tour is bringing the $1.2 million exhibit and its hands-on, interactive learning capabilities to thousands of Texas elementary students
March 6, 2020
PORT ARTHUR – Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA), was joined today by Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, educators, community leaders and oil and gas industry representatives for the Mobile Oilfield Learning Unit’s (MOLU) visit at William B. Travis Elementary School in Port Arthur.
The MOLU is a $1.2 million exhibit that features six self-contained learning stations with TEKS curriculum-based, hands-on activities about the energy, technologies and sciences involved with the oil and natural gas industry. TXOGA has teamed up with the Oilfield Energy Center to bring the MOLU on a ten-week tour that is visiting fifty schools across the State of Texas to promote STEM education and careers in the oil and natural gas industry.
“The oil and gas industry is instrumental to funding all aspects of public education in Texas,” said Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush. “From the billions generated through royalties on State Lands to enhanced STEM-focused learning initiatives, academies and skilled trades programs, the industry is a strong investment partner in what matters most to Texas—our future leaders.”
“TXOGA is honored to be with Commissioner Bush today at Travis Elementary in Port Arthur to close out week eight of our ten-week statewide MOLU tour,” Staples said. “Unique learning opportunities like the MOLU bring high-quality, innovative, interactive, hands-on educational experiences directly to Texas’ next generation of innovators. It is encouraging to see students excited about the potential of working for an industry that is pioneering technologies, growing our economy, and securing a clean, affordable and reliable energy future here in Texas and across the world.”
“We’d like to thank TXOGA for bringing such a stimulating and memorable learning experience to the students at Travis Elementary,” said Travis Elementary Principal Israel Taylor, Jr. “Exposure to hands-on learning opportunities like these are vital to the development and comprehension of our students.”
The 2020 Statewide MOLU Tour is just one example of the Texas oil and natural gas industry’s meaningful impact over the decades on the state’s education system. In January, TXOGA announced that in 2019, the industry paid over $16 billion in state and local taxes and state royalties, and a large portion of that goes directly to education. Oil and natural gas activity across the state – including upstream, midstream and downstream – generates billions of dollars for Texas’ Permanent School Fund and Permanent University Fund, and the industry pays billions in property taxes to ISDs. This is money used to enhance learning, upgrade technology and safety equipment, and hire and retain the best teachers.
Beyond the dollars, the Texas oil and natural gas industry is investing untold time, talent and treasure in Texas schools and their students and teachers through innovative education programs and productive partnerships aimed at providing a state-of-the-art education for the next generation of Texans.
To learn more about the MOLU and TXOGA’s 2020 Statewide MOLU Tour, and the many ways the Texas oil and natural gas industry is fueling education in Texas, visit www.txoga.org/molu.
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Founded in 1919, TXOGA is the oldest and largest trade association in the State representing every facet of the Texas oil and natural gas industry.