Economy
Though the economy is primarily driven by the area's oil industry, new economic steps are currently being taken to ensure the city's existence after oil is no longer abundant in the area. Odessa is also a stop on—and a supporter of—the La Entrada al Pacifico trade corridor. In 2003, Family Dollar Corporation opened its eighth distribution center in Odessa's new industrial business park. Coca Cola built a new distribution center in Odessa in early 2007. Growth in construction of new retail in the city's northeast side has increased in recent years, with three new shopping centers currently planned and one in the construction phase. Many hotels have also been planned, with some in the completion phase. In November 2007, the city approved a contract with a company that develops armaments for US Army helicopters to begin operations in Odessa.
Odessa has also taken steps to diversify the energy it provides. A new wind farm has been constructed in northern Ector County. A new clean coal plant has also been announced for a site previously entered in the Futuregen bidding. The new plant will be run by Summit Power and will be located near Penwell. This new plant could lead to the creation of 8,000 jobs to the area. There are also plans for a nuclear power plant to be run in conjunction with the nuclear engineering department at UTPB, called HT3R, or the "High-Temperature Teaching and Test Reactor". This reactor is planned to be near Andrews. Prospective developers of a solar collector in the area also have visited recently.
The Ector County Coliseum is host to the Permian Basin International Oil Show on every even-numbered year.
Odessa has one regional enclosed mall (Music City Mall), which includes Dillards, JC Penney, Sears, Burlington Coat Factory, an indoor ice skating rink, and a television station. Additionally, more than 100 specialty retailers are located in the mall.
Read more about this topic: Odessa, Texas
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“The counting-room maxims liberally expounded are laws of the Universe. The merchant’s economy is a coarse symbol of the soul’s economy. It is, to spend for power, and not for pleasure.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The basis of political economy is non-interference. The only safe rule is found in the self-adjusting meter of demand and supply. Do not legislate. Meddle, and you snap the sinews with your sumptuary laws.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.... for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)