Ever since this Gulf Coast city’s leaders helped persuade the Obama administration and Congress to lift the export ban on liquid fossil fuels in 2015, the Port of Corpus Christi has been a steady tide of construction, creating nearly 10,000 permanent jobs and bringing in $54 billion in capital investment. But the coronavirus pandemic, which has slammed the brakes on economic activity across the nation, threatens to halt investment in planned projects and abandon thousands of more new jobs. The expansion of the port in the years leading up to the crisis produced new pipelines and distribution facilities, export terminals, liquefied natural gas plants, storage depots and refineries. Corpus Christi has turned into the largest energy exporter and the third-largest port in the United States by tonnage. Last year, it handled 122.2 million metric tons of cargo, 60 percent of […]