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Birds fly over the Port of Corpus Christi as the sun sets Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, in Corpus Christi, Texas.<\/p>\n
Jon Shapley\/AP<\/p>\n
Months after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blasted local leaders for backing out of a plan to build a desalination plant on the Corpus Christi ship channel, the state declined to help finance another, larger desalination facility that could similarly ease the region\u2019s growing water crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Early this year, the Nueces River Authority applied for a $140 million low-interest loan from the Texas Water Development Board to jumpstart planning and design for the larger project, which would be located on Harbor Island but intake water and discharge brine via a pipeline extending two miles offshore. That distance would help minimize the project\u2019s impact on marine life and ecology, according to research.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Corpus Christi will likely face emergency water restrictions this fall, staff warns<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear why the state denied the loan. The water board, whose members are appointed by Abbott, did not respond to specific questions about the project\u2019s scoring. John Chisholm, the deputy executive director of the Nueces River Authority, said the decision was \u201cvery surprising.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur project is going to bring much-needed water to an area that is really suffering right now,\u201d Chisholm said. The river authority is now working to find other funding sources to move the project forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n The move comes as Corpus Christi is experiencing historic water shortages amid rising demand from industry and a record drought. The city is likely to begin forcing residents and businesses to curtail their water use by 25% starting in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n Neither of the two proposed plants would help the immediate crisis, but seawater desalination has been pitched as essential to the region\u2019s longterm future, including its ability to continue serving and attracting petrochemical plants.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Last year, the Corpus Christi City Council canceled a construction contract for the ship channel desalination project, known as the Inner Harbor plant, even though it had Abbott\u2019s backing. The city had already been awarded $757 million in low-interest loans from the state for that plant, though it hadn\u2019t received all of the money when it canceled the contract.\u00a0<\/p>\n BACKGROUND: After pivotal vote, Corpus Christi is on the brink of a water shortage: \u2018The clock is ticking\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n The plant\u2019s proposal has faced fierce opposition from environmental groups, who say discharging the salty brine that results from desalination directly into the shallow bay, rather than farther out at sea, would harm the fragile ecosystems that support endangered species and tourism. Proponents of the plant dispute that claim.<\/p>\n Gathering seawater and discharging the resulting brine farther offshore \u201cis by far the best alternative in terms of impact to marine life and the ecology of the system,\u201d said Greg Stunz, the senior executive director of the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.\u00a0<\/p>\n