CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — A ruling on whether opponents of the Evangeline Groundwater Project have legal standing to formally challenge key drilling and transport permits remains pending, according to an update sent Tuesday by Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni to the mayor and city council.
Judge Alicia Franklin York, the administrative law judge presiding over the contested permit case, held a Preliminary Hearing on Standing on April 28. She committed at that hearing to issue her ruling within 10 business days. Today marks the 10th business day; city legal counsel said the ruling was not expected Tuesday but anticipated to arrive this week.
The ruling will determine whether the City of Sinton and St. Paul Water Supply Corporation — the two primary protesters — have legal standing to formally challenge the 22 drilling permits and one transport permit needed to move the project forward. If standing is granted, the case proceeds to a full contested hearing, a process city officials have warned could delay the project by up to two years.
A separate legal matter has also emerged. According to documents released by the city, Charles Ring — a Sinton farmer and board chair who did not file a protest by the established deadline — has sought to add a late protest to the drilling permits. Judge York has directed parties to file briefs by May 22, with responses due May 29. She has indicated she will rule on the late-filing issue by June 4. If she determines Ring had the right to raise the issue late, a hearing on his standing would be scheduled for June 25.
New applications add to aquifer competition
Two separate sets of applications have been filed with the San Patricio County Groundwater Conservation District seeking permits to draw from the same aquifer system.
Welder Gulley Water, LLC filed applications in November 2025 on behalf of two landowners — J.F. Welder Heirs Land Company, LP and Gulley Family Investments, LTD — proposing nine new wells on roughly 10,225 acres near Odem. The applications request a combined annual withdrawal of more than 12,781 acre-feet at a rate of 1,500 gallons per minute per well. The applications list intended uses as municipal, industrial, irrigation, agricultural and wildlife.
A separate application filed by Steel Dynamics Southwest, LLC, an industrial operator based in Sinton, seeks a permit for a single well on approximately 2,844 acres east of Sinton along Highway 89. The application lists the intended use as industrial, with a proposed withdrawal rate of 1,500 gallons per minute at a depth of 4,000 feet.
Neither application is connected to the city of Corpus Christi's Evangeline project. The San Patricio County Groundwater Conservation District has not yet ruled on either set of applications.
What comes next
The San Patricio County Groundwater Conservation District board is expected to meet this month, after Judge York issues her ruling on party status from the April 28 hearing and after the protest deadline passes on the Gulley/Welder Heirs permit applications. City legal counsel said the district's general manager had no specific updates on the city's pending emergency permit applications, other than that the board would address them at its next meeting.
Corpus Christi has proceeded with construction on the Evangeline project despite the pending legal matters. The city committed more than $187 million in construction contracts with Garney Companies Inc., bringing the total estimated project cost to $665.2 million. The first shipment of pipeline for the project arrived in San Patricio County in late March.
City Manager Peter Zanoni told the city council last month that Evangeline is the only project that can keep the city out of a Level 1 water emergency projected this year.
