PORTLAND, Texas — The Cheniere liquefaction plant in Gregory celebrated another milestone Tuesday when its second liquified natural gas production unit officially went online.
The liquefied natural gas facility is up and running even though some parts of it are still under construction. The Cheniere plant should be a significant financial boom to a lot of community.
Plant manager Ari Aziz took 3News on a tour of the facility. The Cheniere liquefaction plant will turn natural gas into liquid natural gas by cooling it down to -258°F. By doing that, it means it can then be economically shipped out to other countries because it takes up to 600 times less space than natural gas.
While the plant is located in Gregory, it is providing a lot of benefits to nearby Portland.
"Regionally, this is a boom for this area. I mean the Cheniere facility is bringing in a tremendous amount of jobs and economic benefits to both the North Bay area and Portland," Portland City Manager Randy Wright.
According to Wright, the Cheniere plant and the other huge projects going in nearby are helping to fuel the City's growth, which stands at 3.5 percent each year.
The City of Portland is not collecting property tax dollars, so it's enjoying sales tax dollars from all the workers who are building the plant.
Portland hopes the permanent plant employees will decide to call Portland home in the future.
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