CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A coalition of environmental groups gathered Wednesday to protest the latest desalination milestone.
"We want to stop the permitting process," said Isabel Araiza, co-founder of For the Greater Good. "There is going to be a public meeting where we're going to have the opportunity to actually voice our concerns and hopefully they'll listen to us this time around. They don't have to continue to pursue desalination. It's a really bad investment for our environment. It's a bad use of our tax dollars."
On December 12, the City of Corpus Christi announced the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) had issued a draft discharge permit for the Inner Harbor desalination site.
This is the second permit needed for the city to move forward with a desalination facility in the Inner Harbor. TCEQ issued the water use permit in October.
The draft discharge permit is issued following the technical review of the city's application by TCEQ.
Once published, the public will have an opportunity to comment on this draft permit and request a public hearing.
Environmentalists say they will seek a contested case hearing with the TCEQ regarding this site's discharge permit.
Collectively, in Region N, there are five proposed desalination facilities, with applications independently submitted to the TCEQ by the Port of Corpus Christi Authority and the City of Corpus Christi.
In October 2022, Earthjustice filed a Title VI complaint with the Environmental Protection Agency and United States Department of Housing and Urban Affairs alleging "the city's ongoing actions to site the Inner Harbor desalination plant in the historically African American Hillcrest neighborhood violate Title VI because they have the purpose and effect of subjecting the Hillcrest community to discrimination."
This complaint is under review by HUD.
Late this evening we received this statement from officials with the City of Corpus Christi:
"Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has released the draft Texas Pollution Discharge and Elimination System (TPDES) permit to the City of Corpus Christi for review. The City submitted its TPDES application to the TCEQ for the Inner Harbor Seawater Desalination Facility in January 2020.
Upon the City’s approval of the draft permit, TCEQ’s Chief Clerk mails the final permit to the City for their record along with a notice. The City must publish notice in the newspaper for 30 days."
