HOUSTON -- When talk turns to energy, people in Houston have a lot to say.

So when President-Elect Obama talked energy on the campaign trail, this energy capital was listening.

But what will Obama’s energy plan mean for the Bayou City?

That all depends on who you ask.

In Pasadena, workers at the plants and refineries are worried.

“Whenever Democrats are in office, there’s fewer jobs in the oil industry,” EH&S Safety Expert Darren Bocos said. “They don’t know what this new administration is going to do, so they push these jobs back.”

Obama’s plan includes proposals to produce more oil in the U.S., produce more solar and wind energy and lower prices at the pump.

Off camera, oil company employees told 11 News they aren’t willing to make predictions just yet. 

Instead, they will wait and see what happens.

By contrast, Houston Mayor Bill White doesn’t shy away from predicting the city’s future.

“I think we’re going to be an energy capitol, whatever the form of energy,” he said.

White, a former undersecretary of energy, said he sees a city where both oil and renewable energy can thrive.

“Some of the biggest wind energy businesses going are here. A couple of the biggest solar energy businesses have a strong Houston presence,” White said.

Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico could help the coastal states – something Obama has spoken out for as well.

“About 85 percent of the off-shore is off limits, so opening up the off-shore would be a step in the right direction,” Art Shroeder said.

“At the rate we’re going, we’re planting the seeds for the mother of all energy crises,” energy expert Matt Simmons said.

Simmons believes we’ve already reached our peak energy production.

“Workers of Houston ought to be worried about – will the Obama administration grasp the urgency to get prices higher than they are today?” Simmons said.

Simmons said those high gas prices that had everyone complaining over the summer may be important for the city’s future.

He figures low prices mean layoffs in the industry.

“What the industry should realize is, we don’t have enough jobs.  But what the industry is planning on doing is downsizing again because of price,” Simmons said.

Not everyone sees a such a bleak future for Houston.

“I don’t really see a big wave of layoffs or anything like that coming. I think the Houston economy will be fine. I think prices in the $50 to $60 range are more than enough to support more than enough activity,” Rice University’s Ken Medlock said.

While some people have jobs, others may already be paying as energy companies evaluate where our country is heading.

“If you don’t have a job, you won’t have one until the first of the year. That’s the way our industry works. I think I’m going to go back to work now,” Bocos said.

For now, Bocos and people like him are just happy to have a job to go back to.