The Corpus Christi City Council voted Tuesday to move forward with millions in construction contracts for the Evangeline Groundwater Project, despite ongoing permit disputes with San Patricio County that could delay the project by up to two years.
The council approved two ordinances: one amending the groundwater rights purchase agreement with Evangeline Laguna LP, and another authorizing Amendment No. 2 to the construction manager-at-risk contract with Garney Companies Inc. for $187,876,831.
The total project cost, including water rights, is now estimated at $665.2 million.
The votes come as the city races against a potential November curtailment deadline, with City Manager Peter Zanoni telling council the project represents “the only thing right now that will keep us out of a Level 1 water emergency.”
While the city moves forward with construction, the project still lacks key drilling and transport permits from the San Patricio Groundwater Conservation District. Protests filed by the City of Sinton and St. Paul Water Supply Corporation have pushed the permitting process into contested hearings.
Nick Winkelmann, chief operating officer for Corpus Christi Water, told council the city is taking a “calculated strategic direction” by beginning construction before permits are secured.
“We’re going to start building the project in about five weeks without the drilling permits,” Zanoni added. “The alternative is to not do anything, maybe lose Garney and lose the engineer of record, and wait.”
If the protests succeed and the case proceeds to a contested hearing, leaders said the delay could last up to two years.
Councilman Roland Barrera expressed concern about the escalating costs, noting the surface use agreements alone now exceed $12 million.
“The thing I worry about with all the expenditures is the speculative loss if it doesn’t work,” Barrera said. “We’re spending funds on a speculative investment that we don’t know where it’s going to go because there’s no certainty.”
Councilman Mark Scott questioned the timeline, asking how much money the city is committing without permit guarantees.
Sinton and St. Paul Water Supply Corporation are formally protesting the Evangeline project’s permit applications, which are essential to Corpus Christi’s groundwater supply plan.
Prior to the vote to protest permits to contested hearings, the Evangeline Groundwater project was one of Corpus Christi’s key pieces in avoiding November curtailment. Despite the delays, Zanoni says it remains a critical part of securing water for the region.
Last week, Sen. Adam Hinojosa, District 27, invited leaders from the City of Sinton and the City of Corpus Christi to sit down for a round table discussion regarding Evangeline. Zanoni told KRIS 6 News at the time that Sinton’s concerns were addressed. "Having that dialogue to get this project, to bring water to the region, is gonna take continued communication, continued effort, continued professionalism,” Zanoni said following Sen. Hinojosa’s meeting.
He continued, “We’re still very much open-minded, and our calendars are open to meet with the city of Sinton and their attorneys on terms that would work for the region and for the ratepayers that exist today.”
Days after the solo meeting, Sinton city leaders would issue another statement regarding Evangeline.
“State water planning frameworks are built on the expectation that communities will coordinate across political boundaries, share data, and evaluate impacts together,” the statement read. “Without that cooperation, no single entity can responsibly plan for drought, growth, or long-term aquifer sustainability.”
“Over two weeks later, their attorney responded, characterizing our proposal as ‘pretty much nothing but a redline strikeout of the terms proposed by Sinton,’ and further claimed that our terms were ‘so draconian and/or unnecessarily harsh, or simply unnecessary’ because, in his view, the issues we raised were already addressed in documents Corpus Christi Water has provided to Sinton, St. Paul Water Supply Corporation (SPWSC), the San Patricio Groundwater Conservation District (SPGCD), and the public.”
SINTON WATER.pngThe City Manager continued, “The Evangeline groundwater project is 100% permit in terms of production, so the wells and the transport permits are really perfunctory at this point. Nonetheless, we’ll have to go through the process.”
On Tuesday,
Gov. Greg Abbott’s office told KRIS 6 News the governor has directed state agencies to take immediate action to protect Corpus Christi’s water supply, waiving regulations to speed up permitting and ordering a key river authority to prevent near-term water cuts to the city.Last week, Abbott also threatened that the state would step in when it comes to water.
Zanoni tells KRIS 6 News that there’s potential for the governor’s office to intervene in the ongoing disputes in San Patricio County as well. “Abbott, for several years now, has declared areas, disaster areas because of this drought, and we think that with some of that disaster declaration, local rules could be waived to include that groundwater conservation district.”
Zanoni continued, “So the seller of the groundwater rights is working that avenue to see if a directive from the governor can supersede the groundwater rules to allow either temporary or permanent issuance of permits.”
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