At the beginning of the twenty-first century, questions regarding which of America's economic regions will emerge as leader come to the fore. This regional economic leadership may arise when demographics and technology combine with conducive market policies to create unprecedented levels of prosperity. Nineteenth-century New England had these characteristics and created industrial prosperity. The twentieth century brought a westward shift in economic leadership to California and the American Pacific. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, policies friendly toward markets, demographics, and technology suggest an emerging thrust of economic development in the American South. Such an economic climate suggests that the economic lone star of Texas is on the rise. However, like New England's nineteenth- and California's twentieth-century economies, prosperity in the American South will come at an environmental cost. Texas's environment has already experienced some of these costs, as it now ranks first among states in toxic releases and tenth in hazardous-waste releases. Hence, the environmental condition of Texas will continue to be an active area of study among economists and environmental historians.