Environmental Stewardship

Environmental
Stewardship

Being Good Neighbors

Since 1994, the Port Authority has owned part of Harbor Island on the Port Aransas side. As we explore the potential for a desalination facility at this site, it’s important to restate our commitment to the environment and the community.

The Port Authority, a political subdivision of the State of Texas, is committed to transparency, stakeholder engagement, and scientific integrity. Protecting the environment and the natural resources in which the Port Authority operates is necessarily integrated into our culture of compliance and innovation.

We have a responsibility to our community to drive economic prosperity and opportunity for all while protecting the natural beauty of our surroundings.

The Path to Resilience

A desalination facility can benefit the community in various ways—including a drought-resistant, uninterruptable water supply for the region. In pursuing state permits for the project, the Port has conducted an exhaustive review of best available technology and has engaged the local academic community in new ways. This collaboration will be a cornerstone of the Port’s business model as we continue to leverage commerce to drive prosperity for our community, our region, and our country.

A Proven Track Record

The Port Authority is a landowner and has a history of providing and supporting critical infrastructure to drive local prosperity in partnership with local government. For example: In 1998, the Port of Corpus Christi constructed the Mary Rhodes pipeline on behalf of the City of Corpus Christi when the need for water for the region was critical and the City of Corpus Christi didn’t have sufficient resources to construct the project. Pursuing water security through desalination is a natural progression for the Port Authority.

Keeping the Environment in Focus

The Port establishes data-driven targets for environmental performance through a rigorous Environmental Policy aimed at advancing initiatives in six focus areas, referred to as “Environmental Precepts.”

The Environmental Policy pertains only to Port Authority operations

Six Precepts:

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Habitat

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Air Quality

Water Quality

Water Quality

Soils & Sediments

Soils & Sediments

Climate Adaptation/Resilience

Climate Adaptation / Resilience

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Climate Action

Did you know?:
Every year there are more than 100 Port Authority projects identified to provide direct and indirect impacts on Precepts, uphold the Port’s compliance commitments, and to collect data that will allow the Port to make future commitments.

A Green Strategy for Desalination

The Port Authority has designed and will operate the desalination facility consistent with the Environmental Precepts adopted by the Commission:

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Habitat:

The Port Authority designed and located the discharge diffuser to minimize impacts from the desalination discharge; located the water intake to the Gulf of Mexico to minimize any potential adverse environmental effects related to the diversion of marine seawater; and designed the on-site water intake facilities to include traveling water screens with marine life handling features to support the return of marine life to its natural habitat.

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Air Quality

The design and operation of the desalination facility will be consistent with the Port Authority’s emission reduction benchmarks.

Water Quality

Water Quality

Throughout the permitting process, the Port Authority conducted extensive modeling that demonstrates there will be minimal short- and long-term water quality effects from discharge.

Soils & Sediments

Soils & Sediments

The desalination facility will be located on Harbor Island, which has long been used for industrial purposes. The Port Authority contributed significantly to the remediation of Harbor Island and the cleanup of contaminated soils and sediments caused by historic industrial uses.

Climate Adaptation/Resilience

Climate Adaptation/Resilience

The desalination facility would provide a long-term, drought-proof, and sustainable source of water and water infrastructure for the Coastal Bend community for the foreseeable future.

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Climate Action

The facility would provide a source of water for projects that support the energy transition and climate goals, including green hydrogen production.

Other Environmental Initiatives

The Port Authority has an impressive slate of environmental initiatives and partnerships in place to support a cleaner and healthier environment for its community:

Water

  • Installed a trash skimming device in Salt Flats Ditch through an EPA grant program that will collect trash and runoff from urbanized areas.

Air

  • Engaging with the Coastal Bend Air Quality Partnership and providing $90,000 of funding annually for three years; serving on Board of Directors and assisting organization with development of a clean air action plan.
  • Contributing $95,000 annually to the Texas A&M – Pollution Prevention Partnership for operation of the AutoCheck Program and other related outreach.
  • Conducting an air emission inventory every three years that includes GHG emissions, and incorporates regional emissions developed by TCEQ to provide a Nueces – San Patricio wide airshed emission inventory.

Land

  • Campaigning to raise awareness and reduce litter at Harbor Island property in cooperation with several local entities including City of Aransas Pass Code Enforcement and Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program Up2U campaign.
  • Recycling of a variety of materials since 2006, including recycling of over 1-million pounds of paper, cardboard, and metal materials; over 65,000-gallons of used oil and anti-freeze, and over 17,000 electric components and light bulbs.

Conservation

  • Committed $2.5 million for construction of Texas State Aquarium Wildlife Rescue Center as the seed sponsor.
  • Pursuing long-term funding through development of an endowment for maintaining Cedar Bayou.
  • Pursuing Marine State Park designation for light house lakes and redfish bay areas.
  • Contributing $165,000 annually to Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program for implementation of the Bays Plan.
  • Green Marine certified at the highest level in 7 of 8 applicable program areas.
  • Designing a 15,000-ft living shoreline along Nueces Bay on Port-owned property to repair damage from Hurricane Harvey and mitigate potential impacts from future hurricanes. Living shoreline will be constructed through reuse of dredge material.
  • Maintaining ISO 14001 certification since 2007.
  • In partnership with Ducks Unlimited, identified, prioritized, and designed Beneficial Reuse opportunities for dredge material that creates habitat.

Energy

  • Voluntarily purchasing electricity from 100% renewable sources since 2017 and corresponding designation as an EPA Green Power Partner.
  • Conducted energy audits to identify energy reduction projects.
  • Leading development of a solar installation at McCampbell.
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Taking Care of the Community

We believe it’s possible to make a positive impact on industry and the community. That’s why the Port Authority is proactive in engaging with our neighbors—working to address concerns and investing in nearby areas to improve outcomes through a lens of environmental justice.

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The Port Commission and Port Authority staff are working diligently on Justice40 programs alongside local community leaders to ensure a sustainable and positive impact on the disaffected in our community.

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The desalination facility discharge is not located in an economically disadvantaged or historically overburdened community.

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The water resiliency resulting from the project will advance social justice priorities, including water security, economic prosperity, and employment opportunities for the neighboring communities for the foreseeable future.

In Focus: Water Independence

As millions of Coastal Bend area residents frequently experience drought conditions, the region continues to rely almost entirely on surface water—both for drinking water supply as well as for critical environmental flows into bays and estuaries. Demand for potable water is expected to significantly surpass supply in the coming years. The proposed seawater desalination facility will provide an independent, sustainable and drought-proof source of clean and safe water to meet the needs of our communities while preserving our valuable ecological resources.

The Port Authority is at the forefront of the energy/water nexus and is leading the energy transition while supporting critical energy infrastructure for the State of Texas and the nation.

A Future of Alternative Fuels

Port of Corpus Christi is the nation’s largest and most productive energy export gateway and will leverage best in class existing infrastructure to produce and export world-scale, low-carbon hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives, such as ammonia.

In 2022, the Port of Corpus Christi celebrated its centennial, and through a long-standing partnership over the years with the USACE Civil Works Program, is dredging the Corpus Christi Ship Channel to 54’ MLLW. This draft will be required to fully load the purpose-built ammonia carriers in the world fleet.

Hydrogen, which has long been produced at the Port for industrial applications, has great promise as a flexible energy carrier, and many American allies in Europe and Asia are seeking hydrogen exported from the US Gulf Coast to meet their energy transition—and energy security—objectives. Energy security, and the geopolitical stability that it affords, is an essential precursor to energy transition. Continued export of American energy in all forms, particularly the continued growth in production and export of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Coastal Bend, is critical to breaking the tenuous dependence of key American allies on energy produced by nefarious actors.

Bolstering and diversifying the energy cargos that move through this gateway will cement and sustain our position as the energy port of the Americas. As we continue to invest in the infrastructure and talent that will allow us to make the most of new opportunities with both existing and new customers in the years ahead, we are firmly committed to working with our neighbors to grow by design. As we reflect upon a full century of leveraging commerce to drive prosperity in the Coastal Bend and beyond, we renew our commitment to ardently protect the quality of life in the community in which we live, work, and play.

As we reflect upon a full century of leveraging commerce to drive prosperity in the Coastal Bend and beyond, we renew our commitment to ardently protect the quality of life in the community in which we live, work, and play.