Image #27 – Harbor Bridge: Corpus Christi Texas

Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge: I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and left my hometown to attend law school at the University of Houston. In the past, when I would drive to Corpus to visit my family, I used to love crossing the Harbour Bridge while looking out at the glistening bay. The water is emerald green, and the Corpus Christi community calls the city “The Emerald City by the Sea.” This image was taken approximately 20 years ago, and since that time, there has been a significant industrial expansion in the Corpus Christi Bay. As industry expands in the Corpus Bay area, so does the pollution and the damage to the environment.

At the moment, the city is developing its first in-harbor desalination plant, which city officials claim will address the water shortage in the community. What the city officials have failed to inform the community about are the environmental consequences of building the plant. One potential consequence is that in operating the desalination plant, the industry will discharge brine back into the bay. Brine is a highly concentrated saline and the process of dumping brine back into the bay could be catastrophic for the environment. Ultimately and over time, the bay would convert into a dead zone, making it uninhabitable for most aquatic life.

Grassroots environmental activists in the Corpus community have been fighting back. One such group, named “For the Greater Good” (FtGG) are frequent public speakers at city council meetings, protesting and decrying their environmental concerns, thereby giving a voice to the Corpus Christi community. These environmental warriors have been at it for several years and now have a significant social media and community following. FtGG is passionately dedicated to the betterment of the Coastal Bend area of Corpus Christi.

My niece, Professor and Dr. Isabel Araiza, is one of the founders of the community organization “For the Greater Good” and would like to share her thoughts below:

“The inner harbor desalination plant is just the first of five plants being proposed. These plants, if built, will be producing water for heavy industry, not for the people, yet we are expected to pay for it. We already have one of the highest water utility rates in the state. In addition to the financial burden, the environmental consequences of this desalination plant cannot be overstated. Before discharging the brine into the bay, it will be mixed with 6.5 million gallons of sludge. Nearly 54.5 million gallons of waste will be dumped into a nearly closed bay system daily. The city is centring the heavy industry at the expense of the environment and the people. While For the Greater Good was one of the first groups actively sounding the alarm about desalination and its impact, we are no longer the only ones doing so. Our voices, our numbers, our strengths are growing. We haven’t won yet, but we will not stop fighting for Our Bays, Our Air, Our Land, Our Water. This fight is local, but with national and global implications. We aren’t just fighting for our way of life and our environment, we are fighting for a just and balanced decision-making process. We are fighting for a new public paradigm, where people and the environments we live in are prioritized before corporate greed.”