Corpus Refineries - good or bad for the city? + Area Schools (Corpus Christi: school districts, live in)

[ocean2026]

I was asked this during a tv interview show hosted by Mark Di Carlo that will air Friday night - i think its Channel 10 ( I live in Rockport - have no clue of cc channels).

Anyway yes refineries have provided many with jobs. They have also been responsible for considerable pollution. Benzene is turning up in the blood of Gibson Elem students tested this year.

As I said on the air, I wonder had CC developed differently with other types of industries or resorts on the channel, whether people who drive in on I37 would have a less ugly negative view of cc. I-37 gets a majority of visitors who may never see the prettier ocean drive or Tamu-CC parts of town.

Im not sure how that came up - I was still asleep and cold- and was talking about the different school districts. Flour Bluff, Callalen,Gregory - Portland, Port Aransas and Aransas County ISD are the better ones. CCISD average and Taft and Robstown not so good.

[Kibby]

Corpus would not really be much of a city without those refineries. It brought jobs and growth to the city. Pollution is a by-product of industry. We know that now but it was not so evident when the oil business was booming in Texas and Corpus Christi had a large port.

One thing is for sure - without those jobs, that industry then Corpus would still be a pretty small town. That elementary school would have never been built.

I've talked to some people who traveled to Corpus on business and never got close to Downtown or the water. The flew in, stayed near the airport and their entire perception is based on those refineries. That's certainly a negative as you say. It's the "business" that made the city - without it, Corpus could be another Port Isabelle without the development. It was always destined to be a business hub because of it's protected deep port.

This country needs more environmental structure and modernization. Problem is - nobody wants to pay for that. Government doesn't, business doesn't and neither do the citizens. It's going to be very expensive to re-structure industry to match current knowledge - everyone wants that, nobody wants to take responsibility for it. Much easier to just point fingers.

K