5 Unexpected Beneficiaries of Rising Oil Prices

 

  • Andres Soliz Rada This Bolivian government minister oversees his country's recently nationalized energy industry, which should bring the country $780 million next year.

  • Eager Space Tourists New Mexico is using $100 million of its energy industry tax windfall to build a spaceport in partnership with Richard Branson. The facility is set to open by 2010.

  • Students in Pinedale, Wyoming Flush with $25 million in energy industry tax revenue, the school district is building an aquatic center and upping the school-lunch subsidy.

  • The Colorado School of Mines Tim Marquez, the founder of Venoco, donated $10 million to this college. His oil and gas company, an Inc. 500 alum, grossed $138 million last year.

  • A Giant Totem Pole In Kake, Alaska Oil industry tax money will be used to renovate this 132-footer, one of the world's tallest, carved in 1967 for the centennial of the Alaska Purchase.