{"id":38342,"date":"2014-08-25T10:45:17","date_gmt":"2014-08-25T15:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=38342"},"modified":"2014-08-25T10:45:17","modified_gmt":"2014-08-25T15:45:17","slug":"echoes-of-the-past-in-todays-petrochemical-building-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2014\/08\/25\/echoes-of-the-past-in-todays-petrochemical-building-boom\/","title":{"rendered":"Echoes Of The Past In Today\u2019s Petrochemical Building Boom"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Houston Public Media:\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ExxonMobil's<\/a>

Dave Fehling \/ StateImpact<\/p>

ExxonMobil's refinery in Baytown is one of the nation's biggest<\/p><\/div>\n

The Texas petrochemical industry is in the midst of its biggest expansion in decades. That\u2019s thanks largely to the availability of cheap natural gas, used both for fuel and as a raw material. It\u2019s hardly the first time the region has seen this scenario.<\/p>\n

Barbara Shook is senior reporter-at-large for Energy Intelligence Group. She spends much of her time these days covering the construction boom in the petrochemical industry. Last week, she was on hand at a ceremony at ExxonMobil Chemical\u2019s Baytown plant, where a multi-billion dollar expansion is already under way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my second petrochemical boom,\u201d Shook says. \u201cI watched the first one in the early 1950s from my father\u2019s \u201948 Ford pickup truck. He was the construction superintendent on a power plant for a big petrochemical plant in East Texas. That one was also fueled by natural gas and natural gas liquids, just like this one is.\u201d<\/p>\n