By Ector County Judge Dustin Fawcett
If you have been paying attention to the news the past two weeks, you may be aware that we have had some of the most historic ground breakings in our storied history! I was proud to be in attendance at the following four events, celebrating with our community leaders, businesses, and citizens as we continue to stride forward into the future that our community deserves and needs.
OXY STRATOS Project
The first of these events took place Friday, April 28, as Oxy and its subsidiary OnePointFive broke ground on the largest Direct Air Capture Facility in the world in western Ector County! This project is set to remove 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and either sequester the co2 or turn it into a raw material to be utilized by secondary businesses. I want to applaud the partnership of the taxing entities and the Odessa Development Corporation in helping to make this world class and record breaking facility come in Ector County. Our hopes are that this could be just the first domino to fall in a series of new-age energy projects here in the Permian Basin. This project will provide over 1,000 construction jobs as well as a boost to the tax rolls in the years to come. With a projected start date of late 2024 to early 2025, we welcome Oxy and all of their partners to a new age in Ector County!
Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center
The same day as the Oxy groundbreaking, our team of Ector County leaders drove from the western limits of Ector County over to the Wagner Noel to celebrate the groundbreaking of another historic project- one that looks to solve one of the greatest problems in the Permian Basin, mental health. This project, one that took an act of the Texas Legislature through the leadership of State Representatives Landgraf and Craddick, will be a public-private partnership where there are state funds, local funds, private funds, and non-profit funds being leveraged to build a much needed behavior health hospital. I want to thank and applaud our legislators and our community leaders, especially Medical Center Hospital CEO Russell Tippin, for their leadership in making this vision a reality for our community. I look forward to seeing our behavioral and mental health needs being addressed in a big way as this facility looks to begin taking patients in 2025.
Congressman Pfluger’s Regional Office Ribbon Cutting
On Monday, May 1, we were honored to host the ribbon cutting of Congressman Pfluger’s Odessa-based office that will be housed out of our Ector County Annex located on 8th street. When the Congressman and his staff approached me looking for a more suitable location to better serve the constituents we share in Ector County, you better believe Commissioners Court acted fast! We thank him for considering us and for all of his hard work in D.C. and throughout Congressional District 11.
Odessa Meteor Crater Revitalization Ribbon Cutting
On Wednesday, May 3, we were proud to officially cut the ribbon on a multi-month revitalization project that our Ector County Public Works Department has been working on at the Odessa Meteor Crater. The 63,000-year-old crater has never looked better! Our hard working men and women of public works laid asphalt and added railing on the walking trails to enhance safety, built benches and painted other equipment throughout the facility, and cleaned up a lot of the foliage throughout the premises to make it a truly enjoyable attraction. I want to invite you, your family, and your friends to go visit our great Odessa Meteor Crater at 5599 Meteor Road!
To say that I am proud of our community and the direction we are going would be an understatement. These are historic times, and we are only just beginning. I look forward to continuing to update you, the public, as we embark upon even more projects to make Ector County an even greater place to live, work, and raise your families!
God Bless Ector County!
