(This story was updated to add new information.)
Corpus Christi city officials have cleared another hurdle for development of the proposed Inner Harbor desalination plant.
The project has been granted a permit by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to a city news release issued late Wednesday.
It is the last of the major permits needed to proceed with construction of the proposed plant, planned to generate as much as 36 million gallons of treated water per day.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality previously granted permits for the intake and discharge of the facility needed for its operations.
A motion for rehearing on the discharge permit, which the commission approved on March 13, may be considered by the agency if filed by the 25th day after the commission’s vote, according to TCEQ records.
The state-awarded permits allow as much as 51.5 million gallons of discharge per day, directed into the Inner Harbor ship channel, and drawing from the channel as much as 93,000 acre feet of seawater per year for processing.
In addition to construction of the facility, the newly awarded federal permit also authorizes building a pipeline that would run about 3 miles between the proposed plant and an existing pump station off Navigation Boulevard, according to the news release.
The City Council had approved a $280,000 contract for an engineering report on improvements to the station about two years ago, according to a 2023 news release.
Environmental assessments
In the Wednesday night email, Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo and City Manager Peter Zanoni applauded USACE’s decision.
“The process of securing this and all other federal and state permits has taken the last five years of data gathering, studying, modeling, and engineering,” Guajardo stated in the news release. “We’re pleased to have repeatedly confirmed that this project will be environmentally responsible.”
Zanoni in the news release described the process as “thorough and rigorous, as all of our successful permit reviews have been,” and a representation of the city’s commitment to safeguarding the environment.
Officials anticipate construction of the facility launching early next year, according to the news release.
In an emailed statement, environmental attorney Marisa Perales wrote that the permit issuance was “disappointing, but not entirely surprising.”
Perales is among those representing the Hillcrest Residents Association in the permitting processes associated with the plant, planned for construction adjacent to the neighborhood.
“Considering the location within a residential area, the size of the proposed facility, and the fact that it would be the first one in Texas if constructed, it is inexcusable to allow this project to move forward without fully vetting the environmental impacts the project is expected to have on the Inner Harbor, surrounding bays, the nearby community, and the greater Coastal Bend community,” she wrote in an email to the Caller-Times.
The debate
Proponents have asserted desalination will deliver a much-needed supplement to current water sources, yielding additional supply integral to sustaining residential and economic growth.
City-commissioned studies have found there is adequate mitigation to safeguard marine life and ecology, project advocates have said.
Critics have questioned the city’s decision-making to construct the facility adjacent to the historically Black and Hispanic Hillcrest neighborhood, as well as whether consultants’ findings comprehensively illustrate potential environmental impacts.
Additional, broader-based study is needed, challengers have said. The permit announcement follows on the heels of a City Council meeting in which members debated the merits of additional environmental study of the project to what has previously been conducted or what is being performed now as part of the design process.
HUD case
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development remains open, according to an email sent to the Caller-Times late last week.
The case was initially opened in 2022 following a complaint accusing the city of discrimination and civil rights violations in officials’ decision to site the proposed plant near the Hillcrest neighborhood, on acreage off West Broadway Street and Nueces Bay Boulevard.
The case was administratively closed in September, then reopened in late October, documents provided to the Caller-Times in the fall showed.
City officials have denied accusations made in the complaint.
Responding to a request by the Caller-Times for a status of the case, a HUD spokesperson wrote late last week that the agency “does not comment on open enforcement matters.”
More: A Civil Rights complaint on a proposed desalination plant has gone to the U.S. DOJ
More: A neighborhood’s message to the city of Corpus Christi: ‘Hillcrest will not yield.’
More: ‘Water emergency’ may eventually be ahead for Corpus Christi
More: The city asked for a loan to finance its desalination plant. Here’s what the state said.
More: This is what the state decided on a desal permit requested by the city of Corpus Christi
More: It’s Kiewit: Corpus Christi officials pick firm to design, build desalination plant
More: Corpus Christi civil rights case is closed. Here’s what it means for desalination plans
More: Dozens from across the Coastal Bend and Louisiana gather to oppose desal in Hillcrest
More: HUD will reopen civil rights case related to proposed desalination plant, letter states
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi has won a third major permit for a desal plant. Here’s what it means.
Reporting by Kirsten Crow, Corpus Christi Caller Times / Corpus Christi Caller Times
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