CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Residents took to the podium for around three hours at Tuesday's city council meeting to express their outrage over the city’s desalination plans before the council’s final vote.
The city council voted to approve to adopt their budget for the 2021-2022 fiscal year. This does not obligate them to the desalination projects, but it does allow them to move forward with planning and getting answers.
So far, only $10.1 million are currently approved for this project
The desalination plant would take the bay water, remove salt and other minerals from it, and turn it in to fresh water for human use.
Organizers who opposed the plant expressed concerns over potential harm to our city’s wildlife. They also raised worries over the cost of building the plant and how much the city’s residents may have to pay for its operation.
The city is expected to pay for the plant with private loans.
“I do feel the loan being obtained for these desal plants is an absolute abuse and exploitation of our residents and our bay,” says Blanca Parkinson who spoke during the public comment.
The public comment portion of the city council began with several phone calls expressing their opposition, some of which came from scientists out of state.
After the phone calls, in-person comments were heard which led to tension between the city council and organizers in attendance.
The city council’s news conference to discuss the budget approval was canceled “due to the lateness of the day”.
