The Natural Resources area includes 15 agencies with 7,550 employees involved in approximately 57 programs. Salary costs comprised a major portion of the expenditures due to the personnel needed to accomplish these regulatory tasks.
Citizens pay through federal, state or local government taxes and direct user fees.
Natural resource management and economic development programs are administered by various agencies. State parks, mineral rights, oil and gas royalties and construction of dams and reservoirs are examples of programs which relate to natural resource management. The current decentralized organizational structure of these agencies has not provided the regulation and oversight needed to protect the environment. Texas ranks 50th in per capita expenditures for environmental protection. Texas ranks first in the nation in volume of pollutants released into the air, water and land.