River Power: The Lower Colorado River Authority and the Construction of a Texas Energy Economy

This article examines the hydroelectric dams and electrical grid expansion projects built in central Texas between 1930 and 1962 by the Lower Colorado River Authority to reveal that Texas electrification efforts, and by extension the state’s rapidly expanding fossil fuel economy, shaped and was shaped by water. In Texas, and throughout the United States, utility providers remained self-consciously dependent on older, water-based systems, even as fossil fuels came to dominate the economy and energy mix. At the same time, the story of hydroelectric development in Texas shows that energy developers constantly responded to the rise, fall, and movement of water in an effort to provide more and more electricity for the region. This analysis repositions both water and water management as an overlooked shaper of Texas energy policy and infrastructural precedent and demonstrates that histories of even the most hydrocarbon-intensive, commodified development cannot be fully understood without attention to the localized ecosystems, environments, and resource networks in which they are imbedded.