A retired Legal Aid attorney with a history of standing up to industry, Summerlin spent the early part of his career representing Native American tribes in Oklahoma and North Dakota, before diving into legal work in the Corpus Christi area, notably representing residents facing displacement in the historic black neighborhoods of Hillcrest and Washington-Coles.
Black and brown communities have bore the brunt of industry pollution in Corpus Christi for generations. Hillcrest and Washington-Coles experienced waves of rezoning and creeping industrialization that came to a head in the s, as the construction of I meant the neighborhoods were squeezed between a highway and refinery row, physically closed off from the rest of the city.
There are about 1, people living within a mile of the Exxon SABIC site, mostly in Gregory, where 93 percent of residents are minorities and 34 percent are low-income. The Exxon SABIC plant initially was promised to create 11, construction jobs and permanent jobs once the site is built , but much of the plant ended up being built modularly off-site.
The number of construction jobs was reduced to 6,, and permanent jobs were reportedly reduced to You name it. The facility will need a whopping 20 million gallons of fresh water a day to operate. The city of Corpus Christi manages the water supply for seven counties, and about , residents. These factors, coupled with our continued growth, are what make the matter time sensitive. The city can meet the water needs we have been tasked with today , but time is of the essence.
Currently, the city of Corpus Christi supplies 95 million gallons of water per day to the region. To increase the regional water supply, the city is applying for permits for two desalination plants, one in the Inner Harbor and one in the La Quinta Channel. The plants would suck up ocean water from Corpus Christi Bay, remove the salt, and discharge the brine back into the bay.
Combined, they would use up to million gallons of seawater a day, and discharge up to million gallons of brine a day. Plus, there are four more permits from other industrial facilities that have been submitted, for a total of six potential desalination plants in the Corpus Christi Bay — which could have a huge ecological impact. I think people are surprised that they may lose that opportunity to preserve it. One boil water notice lasted 13 days.
Then, in December , the city issued a no use order that lasted almost four days. Browse News for more articles like this. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality opened an investigation of the city's water April 10, after complaints of an earthy smell and taste from residents.
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The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality launched an investigation on Tuesday into the odor and taste complaints. A report, once finalized, would be available for the public to examine, according to an agency spokesman. Water quality officials responded to the complaints by sending out water quality field technicians to the homes, Ramirez said. The technicians tested the water quality and flushed out the residences and nearby fire hydrants to bring in new water.
The technicians did not log flush volumes or times for each response, and officials don't have data specific for this event, said Gabriela Morrow, a city spokeswoman. City officials said they determined the taste and odor was caused by recent environmental impacts, such as weather, to the city's four surface water sources — the Colorado River, Lake Texana, Choke Canyon and Lake Corpus Christi.
Ramirez said any concerns regarding the water's odor and taste has to do with its aesthetics — which has nothing to do with the quality — and is subjective.
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