CB&I, previously Chicago Bridge & Iron Co, was a large engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company with its administrative headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. CB&I specialized in projects for oil and gas companies, and once employed over 32,000 people worldwide. In May 2018 the company merged into McDermott International. McDermott struggled to integrate its acquisition of CB&I. On January 21, 2020, McDermott announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to asbestos litigation. A $22.5 million trust fund was made to handle asbestos claims.

The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with portions extending into Harris County. The Woodlands is governed by The Woodlands Township, an organization that provides municipal services and is administered by an elected board of directors. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the township had a population of 114,436 people.