What we had to do was respect the fact that oil and gas and agriculture would continue to play a part but would not be the economy. Abilene's economy was not as narrowly focused on oil and gas as some other towns in West Texas, Ehrie said, but Abilenians didn't take into account what might happen if the defense industry downsized. And it did, when the Berlin Wall crumbled and the Cold War ended, affecting companies such as Lockheed and Texas Instruments, which had local operations. But diversification is not fail-safe. People don't work for companies as long as they used to, Ehrie said, and companies may not stay around as long as they once did.
Every situation is very fluid.
These are the things that will attract industry, he said. Ehrie said it depends on your generation. The middle generation often says that's unfortunate but that one must move on.