(The Center Square) – City of Corpus Christi officials say the city won’t run out of water next year in the midst of ongoing concerns raised about a regional water crisis and the governor threatening to take over city operations.
The issue has been coming to a head due to several factors. Over the past decade, the region has brought in more than $57 billion in investments, including corporations like Tesla building new facilities with major tax incentives.
As part of an incentive, county government and school district officials have granted multibillion dollar corporations hundreds of millions of dollars in property tax breaks, arguing the economic contributions outweigh the property tax losses. The city of Corpus Christi, with approvals from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), has also approved hundreds of millions of gallons of water a month to be used by several major corporations.
With a lack of rainfall and a decade of state and local government decisions, the region is facing a water crisis.
Last September, the city council voted to terminate a controversial $1.2 billion desalination plant project at a heated public meeting where three women were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. The decision halted years of planning and created another $122 million in debt, KRIS TV reported. At the time, Gov. Greg Abbott’s office was also involved, urging city council members to vote for the project or lose state funding. They voted against it.
Fast forward six month later, and the city states its drought status is stage 3 and has implemented a range of water restrictions. The next stage is a “water emergency.”
The Texas Tribune in partnership with Inside Climate News reported that by next year, the city won’t be able to deliver water to residents and businesses, reflecting a “potential catastrophe” after “a decade of missteps” by local government leaders.
The city said the article included “misinformation” and the region will not run out of water next year. It says it’s invested nearly $1 billion into “active water solutions,” including diversified, drought-proof water infrastructure. This includes several groundwater well projects and three desalination projects. It also says that industry funding benefits residents and a Drought Surcharge Exemption Fee (DSEF) program brings in $6 million annually. “The cost of securing our water future is shared by our industrial partners, rather than being placed solely on the shoulders of residential taxpayers,” it says.
At a recent campaign event, Abbott warned the state may “take over and micromanage” Corpus Christi to ensure residents don’t run out of water. “We’ve been actively involved in it, going back a long time. We provided them with $750 million — three-quarters of a billion dollars — in funding for them to address their water problem,” he said. “You know what they did? They squandered it, and then they changed their plan, and then they were indecisive about what to do.”
The city argues its investment in water projects represents “the most aggressive water infrastructure program in the city’s history.”
Many taxpayers argue additional funds would be available had they not been given to corporations in the form of tax breaks. They also argue multibillion dollar corporations should be on the hook for costs associated with the water crisis.
In 2016, Corpus Christi officials first approved granting at least 600 million gallons of water a month to ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabian SABIC, which jointly own a massive petrochemical complex north of Corpus. In 2017, another 180 million gallons a month was granted to Steel Dynamics, Sierra Magazine reported in 2023, citing local records.
The multi-billion-dollar Gulf Coast Growth Ventures’ Petrochemical and Plastics Manufacturing Complex is located in Gregory, in San Patricio County. It has the capacity to produce 1.8 million metric tons of ethylene, 1.3 million metric tons of polyethylene, and 1.1 million metric tons of monoethylene glycol, a year. The chemicals are used to make plastic, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resins, polyester fibers, antifreeze and other products. It also supports a utilities plant that provides onsite power generation.
Prior to its construction, in 2017, the Gregory-Portland ISD approved a $1.2 billion school district property tax break despite widespread opposition and a petition signed by more than 1,500 people. The county also granted a $210 million property tax cut per year over seven years, CBS News and multiple outlets reported at the time. The facility began commercial operations in late 2021.
In 2020, the city filed an application for a water use permit in Nueces, Kleberg, San Patricio and Aransas counties with TCEQ to divert water from the Corpus Christi Ship Channel and receive an exemption for an interbasin transfer to portions of Nueces County from several river basins. The city also received $222.5 million from the Texas Water Development board that year through a state Water Implementation Fund created by the Texas legislature.
In 2022, TCEQ granted the request, stating several issues constituents raised were not considered in its review of the application. They include “the energy to operate the project and effects on the Texas power grid,” “the city’s operation of its water treatment plant and wastewater treatment plant” and how the city funds the project. It also said, “there are no TCEQ water rights rules addressing environmental equity issues, such as the location of permitted facilities in areas with minority and low-income populations, disparate exposures of pollutants to minority and low-income populations, or the disparate economic, environmental, and health effect on minority and low-income populations.”
By 2024, the city also received $535.1 million in state water grants and, by then, dozens of air and water pollution violations had been reported against SABIC.
