Abbott had said state might ‘micromanage’ the city’s water supply
The Corpus Christi City Council voted 5-3 Tuesday night to reject a proposed nearly $1 billion desalination plant that supporters had pitched as a drought-proof source of drinking water. The vote was the second time in roughly a year the council has turned down the project.
Opponents at Tuesday’s meeting questioned the project’s high cost and the environmental impact of its salty discharge on Corpus Christi Bay.
The rejection followed a decade of effort on the project. It came roughly a year after the council’s prior rejection of the same plant, a decision that drew criticism from Gov. Greg Abbott, who said at the time that the state might have to “micromanage” the city to protect the region’s water supply.
The latest vote was being watched by the governor’s office. Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Abbott’s chief of staff, Robert Black, called the plant “a tremendous opportunity to finally get ahead of the curve and be proactive to solve their long-term water challenges,” per the statement.
“Will they do the right thing and move forward, or will they punt the future of Corpus Christi to someone else to fix?” Black said in a written statement.
Black added that the state had “done its part” by providing loans and other funding. “All that’s left is courage and vision from the City Council,” he said.
The council’s vote leaves Corpus Christi’s long-term water supply still in question.