A bitterly divided Corpus Christi City Council voted early Wednesday morning to delay a decision on reviving an almost billion-dollar water plant it had rejected nine months earlier.
The 7-2 vote came at 2:20 a.m., almost 15 hours into a meeting that drew extensive interest from residents who argued for and against building a desalination plant that council members voted down last year over environmental and cost concerns.
The proposed plant is not expected to begin delivering water until late 2029, but supporters fear that without long-term supplies, the city’s economy will freeze, driving away residents and businesses and crippling the important tourism industry.
Opponents expressed deep concern about the proposed plant’s impact on Corpus Christi Bay, and some doubted the fairness of an environmental study that concluded the plant’s salty discharge would not affect sea life.
The coastal city, Texas’ eighth largest city, is staring down a persistent drought that has placed it on course to being the first U.S. city to run short of water sometime next year. Desalination — the process of turning seawater drinkable — has been seen by some as the cure to get the city through future dry spells.
Wednesday morning’s vote delayed action until Sept. 1, about a year after the council abandoned the initial effort to build the Inner Harbor plant.
“You’re asking us to go out on a limb and I’m not comfortable with it,” said Council Member Gil Hernandez, who first suggested delaying the vote. Hernandez was among the five council members who voted last year to pull the plug on the project.
Several council members were also troubled by the water department’s inability to secure contracts with industrial companies to purchase water from the proposed plant.
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The city’s water department, the mayor and some City Council members view the Inner Harbor Desalination Project as the key to a long-term, steady water supply capable of producing up to 30 million gallons of drinking water a day, even in a drought.
Last year, the same council members voted 5-4 to pull the plug on the Inner Harbor project after nearly decade of planning amid fierce criticism over potential harm to the Corpus Christi Bay’s ecosystem and the ballooning price tag — from $160 million when it was first approved in 2019 to $1.2 billion when the plant was abandoned in September.
Time and the heightening crisis have not changed the minds of project opponents, including many who voiced concerns about the impact on Corpus Christi Bay’s ecosystem.
“The question is: Do we want to be known as the city sucked up by Exxon, or the city that stood up to the people killing the planet?” Corpus Christi resident Guillermo Gallegos told the City Council.
Well, at least all the recent rain has pushed back the beginning of the crisis by a couple of months. Maybe another year or two of more of that might help. I think desalinization is the sort of thing you do when you don’t have other viable options. I’d want to see Corpus Christi make the industrial users pay for their fair share of the water first, but I’m not a voter there. Beyond that, I have no idea what they should do. Good luck, y’all. Here’s an earlier Trib story with more.