Industrial Job Training Project in the Works

By Ryan Myers, The Beaumont Enterprise, Texas

Feb. 4–Billions of dollars in expected industrial expansion in Southeast Texas will reap great economic benefits in coming years, that much is clear.

Less certain is who will weld pipes and drive pilings to bring new liquefied natural gas terminals and refinery expansions to life. The projects will require thousands more workers than are now available in the region, officials have said.

And regional leaders have charged themselves with turning a labor dearth into an economi opportunity.

They want to avoid bringing workers from outside Southeast Texas to build and run the new industrial projects, like the $1 billion Golden Pass LNG terminal and Total Petrochemical’s $900 million refinery expansion.

Institutions such as the Lamar Institute of Technology will be instrumental in training locals for the jobs, but one Texas lawmaker’s plan aims to employ a group not likely eligible for university or institute enrollment.

“I’m talking about the chronically unemployed, the section of people that for whatever reason has dropped out of the labor pool altogether,” said Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont.

Deshotel’s idea for a “basic life-skills” training program would operate a step ahead of traditional skill training programs and try to incorporate people who don’t qualify for existing programs.

“We have programs and money in place to train those who already have a basic skill set, but this would be training in things like problem-solving, hygiene, appearance and emotional skills,” said Deshotel, who chairs the House Economic Development Committee.

Funding used likely would be public money, possibly funneled through the Texas Workforce Commission, with contributions from industry standing to benefit from an available work force, the representative said. After life-skill training, the program would provide training appropriate for building or working in the expected expansion projects and eventually internship or job-placement help.

The program would mimic a successful Austin initiative that has helped employ more than 750 people in the capital city’s technology industry.

“Since 1999, we have about an 80 percent job placement rate,” Melvin White, a Beaumont native and director of the Digital Workforce Academy in Austin, said by phone. “We were an initiative in East Austin.

“In the city of Austin in 1999, the unemployment rate was like 4 percent, but in this particular community that I targeted, similar to the Port Arthur area’s West Side, it was about 12 percent unemployment.”

Working with technology companies represented in Austin, like Cisco Systems and Lucent Technologies, White said he developed a program that assessed a person’s basic skills, provided life management training and taught skills required to work in the city’s technology sector. White’s program’s focused on life-skill training, like the one Deshotel has suggested.

“Even though skill training was very important, we saw in these communities there were some things a little more serious preventing people from obtaining jobs,” White explained. “You have things such as substance abuse, education shortfalls, etc.”

Indeed, a key to Deshotel’s idea is the incorporation of a drug rehabilitation program.

As in White’s program, applicants would submit to drug screening during their initial skill assessment and be offered substance abuse treatment if necessary.

The program would contract with a rehabilitation provider for the service, Deshotel said.

The representative’s idea, though not yet drafted into legislation, is ringing bells with Port Arthur community and industry leaders. White recently gave a presentation on his Austin success to the Port Arthur Industry and Community Leaders Advisory Group, founded in 2000 and made up of about 12 corporate representatives and 30 community leaders.

“I think there is broad agreement among the group that this is exactly the type of program we need,” said John Hall, the group’s facilitator. “One of biggest challenges is clearly the work force and this seems like it could help us re-engage many who have dropped out of the labor force to the point where they could be eligible for the new jobs,” Hall said.

Industry support would be critical to get the program off the ground, Deshotel said.

“That’s the next big step,” Hall said of funding, adding he felt industry support for the program was likely and that industry representatives understood how the program could benefit their companies. Clark Colvin, a manager with Huntsman Corp. in Port Arthur, echoed Hall’s suggestion that industry support for the program was high.

“I can’t speak on funding, particularly since we haven’t seen a proposal, but it’s definitely generating interest,” said Colvin, a member of the Port Arthur group.

Deshotel’s training program would join others preparing the region for industrial enhancement.

“I think all of us are aware of the overwhelming need to train local people,” said Sam Monroe, Lamar State College-Port Arthur president. That school is working with Beacon Construction under contract with Motiva Enterprises to train 40 workers in introductory construction skills, Monroe said.

The college has also partnered with Port Arthur city to train 60 workers in construction.

“If we’re going to need 8,000 construction workers, it’s going to take all of us training as many people as possible,” Monroe said. “And I applaud the representative’s efforts to make as many local people as possible eligible to take advantage of these opportunities.”

A proposed Port Arthur Motiva refinery expansion is the largest on the horizon.

The expansion — worth between $3.5 billion and $5 billion — would increase the refinery’s capacity to 600,000 barrels per day from its current 275,000 barrels, making it the largest in the United States, The Enterprise archives indicate.

The project, which could be completed by 2010, would produce an estimated 4,500 construction jobs and about 300 permanent positions, according to archived reports.

The proposed training program remains in the planning stages. “The Texas Workforce Commission has some discretionary funds that I’m hoping we could use,” Deshotel said. “I meet over there (at the workforce commission) next week and if we could get $70,000 to $100,000 in discretionary funds, we could go to the industry and look for fund matches from industries in South County.”

The program eventually will be part of a bill that might include stipulations to set up similar programs across Texas, the representative said.

“We’d like to try to start something soon,” Deshotel said. “With the discretionary funds, this is not something that has to wait for the session to end.”

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