"Buy land," Mark Twain is alleged to have said, because “they aren't making anymore of it.” They aren't making any more oil either.
The university system of the State of Texas is lucky to have lots of land and the fossil fuel that goes with it. One hundred years ago, the state of Texas gave 2.1 million acres of land to the nascent state university that today includes Texas A&M and the University of Texas system.
Oil and gas bonuses and royalties from those lands in West Texas have been put into a “the Permanent University Fund,” an endowment created by the state's constitution. Over the years, that endowment has grown to $3.65 billion.
In Pennsylvania, other community groups have the potential to benefit financially from natural gas drilling activity. Tyler Memorial Hospital, school districts, municipalities, the Wyoming County Kiwanis and even the state of Pennsylvania itself have leased, or are considering leasing, mineral rights of their land to natural gas exploration companies.
-- David Falchek
-