ODESSA, Texas
Population: 114,957
Unemployment: 4.4 percent
Projects: Summit Power plant
Odessa has capitalized on its useful location—minutes from an international airport, easy accessibility to major interstates, a Union Pacific Railroad switch station and the La Entrada al Pacifico trade corridor running to Western Mexico—to facilitate the landing of such major projects as Family Dollar’s (now Dollar Tree’s) massive retail distribution center and a similar facility for Coca Cola. A clean coal plant—estimated cost $2 billion—for Summit Power is slated to begin construction later this year.