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BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The executive director of Workforce Solutions Cameron says he is working to get far more construction workers from the Rio Grande Valley hired for the big LNG project at the Port of Brownsville.

In an exclusive interview with the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service, Pat Hobbs acknowledged that the minimum local talent Bechtel must hire for the building phase of NextDecade\\u2019s $18.4 billion liquefied natural gas export terminal is a minimum 35 percent.\\xa0

\\u201cMaybe we can hit 50 percent, 80 percent,\\u201d Hobbs said.

More than 5,000 workers are expected to be needed for the construction phase of the project. Construction could take five or six years.\\xa0

Hobbs predicted frenetic activity as Bechtel, the company NextDecade has hired to build Rio Grande LNG, gets moving on the project.\\xa0

\\u201cIt\\u2019s gonna be a fury between now and the time they actually start. Now that they have that final investment decision things are gonna start popping. They\\u2019ll start having job fairs and we'll help them with those, just to see what we can pull out of the woodwork.\\u201d

Hobbs said he hopes to persuade Bechtel to post all the job openings on the WSC website.\\xa0

Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service to read the full story.

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