A local group is offering to pay for Corpus Christi’s application for a federal grant that could bring up to $120 million dollars for the Inner Harbor Desal project.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A local group is offering to pay for Corpus Christi’s application for a federal grant that could bring up to $120 million dollars to the city’s proposed Inner Harbor desalination project.

Voices for Coastal Bend Energy sent a letter to Mayor Paulette Guajardo and City Manager Peter Zanoni offering to provide an unrestricted donation to the city to cover the cost of preparing a grant application for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.



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The offer comes as the proposed Inner Harbor desalination plant remains under consideration, after it was tabled until September, while additional environmental analysis is underway.

Voices for Coastal Bend Energy describes itself as a coalition of local residents, business owners and community leaders that advocates for energy and infrastructure growth in the Coastal Bend, along with a sustainable water supply.

“If we don’t continue with the resources that they need and to provide more economic development we’re going to lose that next generation,” said Dolly Gonzales Trolley, Executive Director of Voices for Coastal Bend Energy.

Gonzales Trolley explained how the idea came together.

“After the council voted not to support this grant opportunity on June 30, some of our business leaders here in the community approached me about whether we might be able to put together some private funding to see if we could bring this conversation back up,” Gonzales Trolley said.

Gonzales Trolley said community members believed the opportunity was too significant to pass up.

“And that really stemmed from them feeling so strongly that this was an opportunity that could not be ignored,” Gonzales Trolley said.

According to the letter, the group has raised about $50,000 to $60,000 to hire a contractor to prepare the grant application.

“The City Council indicated one of the reasons that they didn’t want to pursue it was the cost of pursuing the grant and our stance was really can we remove some of these obstacles,” Gonzales Trolley said. “There was, like I said, some community and business leaders that came forward and said, well, I’d be willing to contribute.”

Mayor Paulette Guajardo welcomed the proposal, saying it could address concerns over city resources needed to complete the application.

“It’s important because the piece that was missing, which was going to be staff time and resources. This stakeholder group is essentially saying this is what we do, we support infrastructure projects and this is one that we see as part of our mission,” Guajardo said.

Before the city can accept the offer, the proposal must be considered by the Corpus Christi City Council.

Council members are expected to discuss the offer and vote on it at next week’s meeting.