CORPUS CHRISTI, TX \u2014 The Inner Harbor desalination project is not on this year’s ballot, but Corpus Christi voters will still determine its fate through who they elect to City Council.<\/p>\n
Inner Harbor desalination has been voted down twice in the last 13 months by Corpus Christi City Council. But after the most recent vote, City Manager Peter Zanoni made clear the project is not dead.<\/p>\n
“Tonight’s vote wasn’t a no on the project. There was a motion to approve it and it was denied,” Zanoni said on September 2.<\/p>\n
Who Corpus Christi voters elect to city council could decide fate of Inner Harbor desalination project<\/p>\n
Corpus Christi serves the water needs of the region, which includes 500,000 people across multiple counties and more than a dozen large-volume industrial water users. Those demands have created a water shortage and a need for a long-term sustainable source of water.<\/p>\n
Desalination has become a popular option because of the city’s proximity to the Gulf. The process takes water from the ocean, filters it and turns it into drinkable water.<\/p>\n
Inner Harbor Desalination holds permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which has made it a frequently cited potential solution. But both times it has come to a vote, five of the nine council members have pushed back on the project.<\/p>\n
Opponents have cited environmental concerns, including discharge from the desalination process being pumped back into the bay and posing a threat to marine life. Financial concerns have also been raised \u2014 the project would cost at least $978 million for 30 million gallons of water a day.<\/p>\n
With Inner Harbor desalination still alive, candidates are centering their campaigns around the project. Political action committees, known as PACs, are forming on both sides. The Coastal Bend Coalition has endorsed nine candidates who support Inner Harbor, while Texas Campaign for the Environment is endorsing candidates who oppose the project.<\/p>\n
Corpus Christi voters can each vote for a district seat, three at-large seats and the mayor \u2014 five city council members in total. That majority is what will either approve or deny Inner Harbor desalination.<\/p>\n
I researched all 43 candidates currently running for office. Of those, 18 are in favor of Inner Harbor desalination and 25 are against it. <\/p>\n
The list is in order of how candidates will appear on the ballot.<\/p>\n
City Council candidates: Who is for\/against Inner Harbor Desalination?<\/p>\n
MAYORAL CANDIDATES:<\/p>\n
Kaylynn Paxson \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
David Ainsworth Sr. \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Paulette Guajardo (incumbent) \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Gil Hernandez \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Chelise Hyatt \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
John Calkusic \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Dave Heasley \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
AT-LARGE CANDIDATES:<\/p>\n
Anthem Powers \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Merida Nardone Mendoza \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Scott F. Corliss \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Sammy Gonzales \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Zoraida Basaldu \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Michael Miller \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Joshua Fraedrick \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Willie Morales Jr. \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Mark Scott (incumbent) \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Nancy Vera \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Julian Jacob Hernandez \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Carolyn Vaughn (incumbent) \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Richard Shelton \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Dan McQueen \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Alex Johnston \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
DISTRICT 1 CANDIDATES:<\/p>\n
John Garcia \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Tracy McCall \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Billy Lerma \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
John M. Cudd \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Vidal \u201cCowboy\u201d Conde \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
DISTRICT 2 CANDIDATES:<\/p>\n
Selena Guerra \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Jen Allende \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Isabel Araiza \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Laura Flores Commons \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
DISTRICT 3 CANDIDATES:<\/p>\n
Jessica Villarreal \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Robert Rocha \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Eric Cantu (incumbent) \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
DISTRICT 4 CANDIDATES:<\/p>\n
Joshua Anderson \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Kristina Nelson \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Stacie Garrecht \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Dan Herrington \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
DISTRICT 5 CANDIDATES:<\/p>\n
Joseph Borkouski \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Kusumakar Sooda \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
David Pena \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
John Hanzalik \u2013 Pro Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
Merida Gonzalez Forrest \u2013 Against Inner Harbor<\/p>\n
When does voting begin? <\/p>\n
Early voting begins October 19. The general election is on November 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORPUS CHRISTI, TX \u2014 The Inner Harbor desalination project is not on this year’s ballot, but Corpus Christi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,2950,157,156,409,24556,2904,33440,27,13090,410,35841],"class_list":["post-464172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-city-council","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news","tag-election","tag-inner-harbor-desalination","tag-peter-zanoni","tag-running-dry","tag-texas","tag-texas-water","tag-water","tag-water-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}