tailored to meet the needs of local industries.“We’ve worked through some of our economic development programs to provide specialized engineering training, for instrumentation, for a lot of our plants including our petrochemical plants. We work very, very closely with them,” Hurlbert maintains. The Texas Workforce Commission is also a main partner, offering valuable training to support the city’s workforce. To support this evolving economic landscape, Corpus Christi is engaging with industries and major employers to understand where the deficits are.“We are very cognizant of the fact that we do have to make sure that we have properly trained people to staff those industries and businesses, so we can continue to thrive.” NEW OPPORTUNITIES The city is currently exploring options for co-locating new developments at the municipal airport. “We have a lot of areas out there that we can expand on. We are doing a lot of work to attract direct flights, to see how we can partner out there,” remarks Hurlbert. As for potential industries, she relays, “Hydrogen is a huge thing in our area, and it is a viable industry, but it is very heavily water and energy-dependent, and so we are working with our regional partners on how to best attract that new technology, and balance that with the resources that we have.” In addition to the airport development, the nearby King Ranch, a large agricultural area, is exploring carbon capture initiatives. “We’ve got some interesting stuff going on,” she acknowledges. We are continuing to build our secondary retail markets. We are the retail hub of the area, and so we want to continue to attract those businesses that provide that quality of life and that quality of spending in the area, as we’re attracting these people to our region.” QUALITY OF LIFE AMENITIES Boasting over 190 parks, ranging from green spaces to fully developed recreational areas, the city is alive Smarter steels for people and planet At ArcelorMittal Texas, we are leading the way in sustainable steelmaking with Hot Briquetted Iron (HBI) technology. ArcelorMittal Texas’ high-quality HBI is a vital ingredient for eco-friendly steel production, contributing to a greener future as we continue to supply industries worldwide with the raw materials needed to build the world responsibly Leading the Way in Sustainable Steelmaking ArcelorMittal.com 98 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 09
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