Neighbors push back as city leaders revisit Inner Harbor desalination

Corpus Christi community members gathered outside City Hall on Tuesday to voice concerns over the proposed $1.2 billion Inner Harbor desalination plant and its potential environmental and community impacts.

The City Council voted in September to discontinue funding the plant’s design after city leaders raised questions about the cost and environmental impacts. On Tuesday, City Manager Peter Zanoni brought the proposal back to the council, pivoting to the plant’s previous second-place bidders, the Corpus Christi Desalination Partners consortium led by Acciona and MasTec.

“The desalination project is a bad deal for residents, no matter the cost,” said Jake Hernandez of Texas Campaign for the Environment. Hernandez was joined at the press conference by Elida Castillo of Chispa Texas, Monna Lyttle of the Hillcrest Residents Association, Neil McQueen of the Surfrider Foundation, Armon Alex of the Gulf of Mexico Youth Climate Summit, and other Corpus Christi community leaders opposed to the Inner Harbor project.

See the full story by KRIS-6 reporter Alexis Scott.