Business View Civil and Municipal | September 2022

76 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 BAYTOWN, TEXAS for living in Baytown.” Industry in Baytown eventually morphed the function of oil and gas from what was once an upstream-focused community to a downstream “petrochemical hub.” According to Davis. “What we’re known for today are the byproducts of oil exploration – particularly ethane gas, which is used to create plastics. Now, our industry is focused primarily on petrochemicals including plastic manufacturing. Exxon currently operates one of the largest petrochemical facilities in the world right here in Baytown. The Gulf Coast itself is responsible for an approximately 85% share of petrochemical production globally. As a result, Baytown has become a very important place in terms of the U.S. economy, when you consider that a third of your automobile is made of plastics and other petrochemical-related products that had their birthplace somewhere in the Gulf Coast… likely right here in Baytown.” Baytown is proud of its global partnerships with Exxon Mobil, Chevon Phillips Chemical, Enterprise Products, and Covestro – alliances that are shaping the city’s future and status as one of the nation’s premier places to live, work, and play. At present time, there are more than 90 petrochemical companies in operation in the Baytown area. “In the last 15 years, Baytown’s population has gone up by about 20,000, to where we’re now a city of 85,000 people,” Davis reports. “Jobs have just exploded as a result of petrochemical manufacturing because there remains an insatiable appetite for plastics and polyethylene-related products. Probably the largest growing industry in Baytown has to do with logistics – moving products out of the Houston port. One of the most significant developments in town is a port facility called TGS Cedar Port, and there you have million- square-foot warehouses containing products that are shipped all over the world.”