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Abstract
This paper seeks to examine the oil production industry in the Permian Basin region of West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico in more depth. As one of the most productive oil and gas fields in the world, the Permian Basin is a highly sensible location to investigate issues relevant to the industry. By conducting a preliminary investigation into potential causal factors of production levels as well as how these production levels correlate with environmental outcomes it is hoped that future studies can be more focused and intentional. It was found that total U.S. population is a significant predictor of Permian Basin oil production levels. Further, it was found that Permian Basin production levels are a significant predictor of the annual number of days in which ozone was the main air pollutant in the region as well as the annual number of days nitrogen dioxide was the main air pollutant in the region.