For decades, the scenario was the same for Rio Grande Valley residents when it came time to make job choices after receiving their technical training and education at area colleges.
The better jobs and higher pay were elsewhere. Be it at the Port of Houston or jobs at aviation manufacturing facilities in California, Valley natives searched nationwide for careers that could match their aspirations. That equation is beginning to change – and in a major way in southern Cameron County. SpaceX and its Starship rocket are now a formidable presence on Boca Chica Beach. Nearby, at the Port of Brownsville, construction on a Rio Grande LNG plant has begun. It gives the Valley an industrial look it has never had before.
“They’re great opportunities for our community,” said Cledia Hernandez, the vice chancellor and chief externals relations officer for the Texas State Technical College system. “In the past, many of our skilled technicians from the region had to relocate elsewhere. The developments we’re seeing now will allow them to come back home or stay here after receiving their training.”
Industries Co-Existing
The industrial employment numbers in southern Cameron County look to gain traction in the coming years. SpaceX currently employs 2,100 workers at its Starbase on Boca Chica, with 80 percent of its workforce being RGV residents. The industrial firm building the LNG plant – Bechtel Energy – says it will need at least 5,000 workers to build the NextDecade facility at the port. When completed, the LNG plant will employ at least 400 workers – and likely more in the years ahead – as it is built in three phases over a 1,000-acre site.
Of the industrial surge ahead, Eduardo Campirano, the Port of Brownsville’s chief executive officer, says, “I don’t know if we can get our heads around it yet.”
The Valley, Campirano says, has “never been in that discussion.”
The port director is referring to major cities and regions of the country that are major players in the energy sector or other fields of major industry. The $11 billion-plus LNG plant by state Highway 48 is sure to put the RGV in the discussion, with Bechtel President Paul Mardsen, saying, “This plant will put Brownsville on the global industrial map.”
Driving Skilled Labor
To some extent, SpaceX has already done that with its $430 million investment in Cameron County. Brownsville city leaders have said SpaceX has contributed $885 million in gross economic output for the county. Its 2,000-strong workforce has made SpaceX the largest private employer in Brownsville. Starbase at Boca Chica Beach is essentially a rocket manufacturing plant and its workforce is currently focusing on a second Starship launch off its launch pad across the Laguna Madre from South Padre Island.
Kathryn Lueders, Starbase’s executive general manager, recently spoke in general terms of how she sees her operations and the LNG plant co-existing. She said during a presentation to SPI community leaders that a labor infrastructure of skilled workers is being built and will serve both facilities well. More will need to come, Lueders said, to maintain that flow of technical and skilled workers both operations need as they eventually operate concurrently in southern Cameron County.
“Those skills are going to be sought-after commodities with industries coming in,” Lueders said of jobs in welding, assembly work, crane operations and construction trades. “It has helped us to build and maintain our systems and operations. We need to gain more of those skills in partnerships with universities and school districts in the Valley.”
Thinking Local
Both Rio Grande LNG and SpaceX have pledged to think local first when it comes to hiring and maintaining its workforce.
Lueders points out that 80 percent of Starbase’s employees are from the Valley and that SpaceX plans to train and develop local residents for higher technology jobs in systems, navigation and launch pad design. NextDecade’s CEO Matt Schatzman says his company will recruit Valley natives with industrial and technical experience who are living elsewhere in hopes of bringing them back home.
It would represent a turnaround in what higher education administrators like TSTC’s Hernandez have seen over the years. That trend would be welcomed locally as TSTC and other area colleges continue their work of preparing students for new opportunities in the Valley.
“We’re going to continue to provide a continuous flow of workers to our industrial partners,” she said.