Councilman: New Blood Could Kill Inner Harbor Desalination Plant

Highlights:

• D5 Councilman Gil Hernandez told the Nueces River Authority board that he suspects a new majority voting bloc, which will be decided by a runoff election, could kill the city’s Inner Harbor project.
• Chisme Collective found that if runoff candidates Kaylynn Paxson (D4) and Billy Lerma (D1) are elected on Dec. 14, six councilmembers could work together to kill the Inner Harbor project.

District 5 councilman Gil Hernandez said new blood on the Corpus Christi City Council could mean the death of the Inner Harbor Desalination Plant, therefore the Nueces River Authority should continue its own pursuit of desalination. 

“It could very well possibly be that the desal facility in the Inner Harbor goes away based on the results of (the city council) election,” Hernandez said of the city’s desalination plant proposed to be built in the Hillcrest neighborhood. “So, I don’t want to close the door on anything else.”

Hernandez spoke during Friday’s river authority meeting, during which the board heard from Corpus Christi, Port Aransas and Robstown residents about their disapproval of the board taking over one of the Port of Corpus Christi’s desalination projects: The Harbor Island Desalination project. 

Previously, the city and Port of Corpus Christi, as well as plastics manufacturer Corpus Christi Polymers, were seeking to build the first large-scale seawater desalination plant in Texas in the Coastal Bend. The river authority is a regional water planning agency for 22 counties in South Texas and “has broad authority to preserve, protect, and develop surface water resources,” according to its website. 

Who Can Kill the Inner Harbor Desal Plant?

Three of the nine city council seats that were up for grabs on Nov. 5 will be decided in the December runoff election. A runoff election is called when candidates fail to get 50 percent of the vote, which happened in the mayor’s race, as well as the District 1 and District 4 races. 

Mayor Paulette Guajardo and City Councilmember Michael Hunter will battle it out for the mayor’s seat; incumbent Everett Roy will face Billy Lerma in District 1; and Kaylynn Paxson will go head-to-head with May Mendoza in District 4.

The runoff election is Dec. 14, with early voting starting Dec. 2. 

Hernandez suspects that a new majority voting bloc, which will  be decided by the runoff election, could kill the city’s Inner Harbor project. 

Based on responses provided to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, if Kaylynn Paxson is elected, the below five councilmembers could work together to kill the Inner Harbor project. District 1 runoff candidate Billy Lerma did not respond to the Caller-Times questionnaire but told Chisme Collective he was for desalination, but against the city’s Inner Harbor project. 

1. At-large Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn Elected Nov. 5: “Corpus Christi is out of water; I support desal in the right location. I don’t want to harm our bays, (so I) need all (the) information that shows it is safe to do it in the Inner Harbor. I don’t like that location, it needs to be further out, and the city needs to work with other entities to make this happen, such as the port, county and the state. This is for industry – they need to pay for it."
2. District 1 Runoff Candidate Billy Lerma: “I’m for desalination but against it being placed inside our inner bay area.”
3. District 2 Councilwoman Sylvia Campos Elected Nov. 5: "I am opposed to it. It will burden the water rate payer, harm our precious bay. It will attract more fossil fuel industries. It also has not been an economic windfall. We are still economically underserved. Cities that cater to industry row remain stagnant and underserved. We should not be risking our 1.4 billion dollar tourist industry to appease these large corporations that harm our air, our land and our water."
4. District 3 Councilman Eric Cantu Elected Nov. 5: “I support desalination as a potential water source but have concerns about the current site location. We must pursue desalination transparently, including public input and exploration of alternatives, while ensuring brine disposal is managed responsibly. Our water future depends on diverse solutions.”
5. District 4 Runoff Candidate Kaylynn Paxson: “I am in favor of desalination as a source of freshwater. I want to pursue options that accommodate our long-term growth. The Inner Harbor location is limited in its production capacity, so I do not think it can meet the growing needs of the city while meeting environmental requirements. I would rather pursue options that can be fed to and from the Gulf.”
6. District 5 Councilman Gil Hernandez Elected Nov. 5: “I’m for desalination. However, I believe the Harbor Island site is the better location because of its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. Because of the location, it can be expanded from 50 MGD to 100 MGD. The Inner Harbor site is environmentally limited to 30 MGD, which is shortsighted when considering long-term growth needs of the Coastal Bend. We must also consider other ways to diversify our water supply beyond desalination.”

Who Wants Desalination?

The City of Corpus Christi is one of two entities seeking to build a seawater desalination plant in the Inner Harbor. The second entity is Corpus Christi Polymers, which is trying to build its own desalination plant to operate what could be the largest Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plant in the world. PET is a petrochemical product often used to manufacture single-use plastics.

The Port of Corpus Christi Authority is the third key player behind efforts to bring desalination to the Coastal Bend. Initially, the Port proposed to build two desalination plants: The Harbor Island plant in Port Aransas and the La Quinta plant in Ingleside. The Port has since suspended its permit application for the La Quinta facility, according to reports. 

The Nueces River Authority became the fourth entity to pursue brining desalination to the area in September. The river authority proposed to lease the Port of Corpus Christi’s Harbor Island property to operate a seawater desalination plant, according to the Caller-Times. 

Port officials have said they are willing to transfer the permits to build a desalination plant on Harbor Island to either the city or a third party, so they can construct, own and operate the desalination plant, according to the Caller-Times. 

Hernandez sees the river authority’s pursuit of desalination as an opportunity to correct the council’s past misstep in overselling the region’s water supply to industry, he told river authority board members at the meeting.  

He lamented the city council putting all of its “eggs in the desal basket in the Inner Harbor.”

“I encourage you to move forward with your process here and see where it leads,” Hernandez said. “Maybe we can get to work together as several entities; that would be better for us in front of the state… Ultimately, I don’t want to close that door. We’re in this situation of (Stage 3 drought restrictions) because we put all of our eggs in the desal basket in the Inner Harbor.”

Shared Values Among Anti-Inner Harbor Majority 

One of the six city council members – District 2 Councilwoman Campos – who could potentially collaborate with others on council  to kill the Inner Harbor project is against the industrial expansion that desalination plants would enable in the Coastal Bend. 

At-large Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn, District 1 runoff candidate Billy Lerma, District 3 Councilman Eric Cantu, District 4 runoff candidate Kaylynn Paxson and District 5 Councilman Gil Hernandez oppose the Inner Harbor project, but are in favor of other desalination proposals. 

Desalination would enable industrial expansion because it is designed to  provide exponentially more water (literally, tons) to sell as the city and other entities plan to enter the desalination market. The proposed projects surpass the amount of water needed to meet the current water demands of residents and existing companies. Some council members oppose the Inner Harbor project because it cannot produce more than 30 MDG. 

Hernandez went into depth on the reasoning behind his opposition to the Inner Harbor project, noting its cost – $756 million – would put the city’s water department into a debt requirement of $1.3 billion. The city’s budget’s revenue is currently at $169 million. 

“In order to pay that debt, our rate structure would have to more than double for the citizens of Corpus Christi in order to cover that cost, if we did it all ourselves,” Hernandez said. 

Hernandez also cited missed opportunities in diversifying the city’s water portfolio. 

“We didn’t go for groundwater, we didn’t negotiate with CC (Corpus Christi) Polymers, we didn’t negotiate with Evangeline. Now we’re in a situation … we’re in dire straits. Let’s not close the door to anything and continue moving forward,” Hernandez said.