BROWNSVILLE, Texas - NextDecade hosted a Stakeholder Appreciation & FID Celebration reception at Brownsville Event Center on Thursday, Aug. 17, to show gratitude for the community engagement around its Rio Grande LNG project.
The project involves the construction of a liquefied natural gas export terminal at the Port of Brownsville. Among the speakers was Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr.
In his remarks, Treviño was fulsome in his praise of NextDecade and its chairman and CEO, Matt Schatzman.
"When you are able to break bread with someone, obviously you loosen your tie and you are able to have personal one-on-one conversations with that person. It has been a pleasure getting to know Matt. He is a very, very, down-to-earth individual. His commitment and NextDecade’s to Brownsville, to the Port of Brownsville, to Cameron County, is without measure," Treviño said.
"When you are dealing with people like that and you know that they are making an investment, an unbelievable investment, something we have been working towards for decades, it really, really, gets the blood flowing, it really, really excites you because, in addition to the investment of $18 billion, we are talking about 5,000 to 10,000 construction workers."
Treviño said his job and that of Cameron County's workforce development team is to ensure more high-paying jobs are created.
"It's our job to make sure that we develop other industries. So that that skilled workforce, many of whom are here, they're local, they are just working elsewhere... They (NextDecade) have committed to 35 percent of them being local persons. We’ve got to make sure that while they are here… we continue to develop, whether it's LNG or a related industry, that we continue to develop that workforce.
Here are Judge Treviño's remarks in full:
https://youtu.be/Sa_IO68udh8
