the economy of the area is heavily dependent on the petroleum industry and has experienced a series of booms and busts as the price of crude oil has fluctuated. the permian basin is the source of the new york mercantile exchange's benchmark west texas intermediate crude. traditionally, the core cities of midland and odessa have played very distinct roles in the petroleum industry. midland is home to most of the corporate offices and has a predominantly white-collar population. odessa by contrast is home to mostly blue-collar workers and industrial facilities. in 2003 family dollar constructed its seventh distribution center, in its industrial complex, since then telvista, an incoming call center, and coca-cola enterprises have relocated to this complex located on interstate 20. in even-numbered years, odessa hosts the permian basin international oil show—the world's largest inland petroleum exposition—at the ector county coliseum. in recent years, both cities have made efforts to diversify into additional industries to reduce their dependence on the petroleum industry. midland–odessa is well positioned to become an energy nexus for the region and for the united states as a whole. the metropolitan area is home to two major natural gas powerplants and in july 2006 it was announced that odessa was one of four possible sites for a futuregen zero-emissions coal-fired powerplant (which eventually was awarded to mattoon, illinois). the permian basin is also home to several windfarms and the city of andrews is a candidate site for an experimental high temperature nuclear reactor. this focus on new sources of alternative energy in addition to petroleum has led some to refer to the permian basin as the energy basin. the recent high price of crude oil has led to a significant economic boom in the area.