CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — As 3News first reported on Tuesday, the City of Corpus Christi and the Port of Corpus Christi appear to be at odds over the future of a Desalination Plant here.
More specifically, which entity will be taking the lead in developing the project. Also at issue, an apparent lack of communication between the regional partners.
It prompted the City Council to pass a unanimous resolution at the end of Tuesday’s Council Meeting, asking Port officials to back off.
The resolution requests that the Port of Corpus Christi do two things:
First, withdraw its application for funding from the Texas Water Development Board for a Harbor Island Desalination Plant, and second, end all attempts to be a water distributor or producer.
All of this came about when city leaders discovered – by accident, they say, that the Port had submitted the loan application for what is estimated to be a half-billion-dollar project.
Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo told 3News, “That application lists the City of Corpus Christi as a customer to the Port desalination plant. We were not asked about that, we were not told about that. We are not going to be their customer.”
The Mayor produced a letter sent by the City of Corpus Christi to Port officials in 2018, stating that they had no interest whatsoever in being connected to the Harbor Island site.
For her, this latest move by the Port competes with the City’s own desalination initiative, which Guajardo said is moving forward.
“Here in a matter of weeks, you’re going to see the city hitting a major milestone in the desalination process," Guajardo said.
City Councilmember Roland Barrera said that at the very least, the apparent lack of communication between the City and the Port causes uncertainty for Coastal Bend residents.
“One of the key things for us is to ensure that the residential ratepayer doesn’t have any volatility," Barrera said. "That they have some predictability to what their rates are going to be and there’s not going to be an impact to them.”
Both he and Guajardo once again expressed surprise that despite numerous opportunities to do so, the Port had moved this far along in the process without informing city leaders.
Guajardo and Councilmember Barrera told 3News that while it is important for the two groups to have a good relationship, the Port’s future actions in this matter will go a long way toward proving their intent.
More from 3News on KIIITV.com:
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