EatMoreSalmon said:
I see where desalinization produces 3 parts brine waste to two parts water.
Not always. Depends on the source. The Brazos River is saline ENOUGH that it has to be desalinated, not for human taste or health, but to prevent damage to pumps & purification systems. Waste there is like 15-20% per bid I received. Not much. But still an issue. We could run the waste thru a second or third time and lower the waste number to single digits, but at the cost of more energy usage (cost). Corpus chose to desal from a brackish bay rather than the ocean to save cost (a big push globally) and simply dump the waste back into the bay (rather than the ocean). They can still do ocean disposal, but it will cost tens of millions to run the pumps & pipe plus the lost time (years) getting all the engineering, feasibility & environmental studies, etc...done.
Waste level also depends on technology. There are "zero liquid discharge" systems out there. But they cost a LOT more.
Will Corpus be also allowing for this kind of industry?…
Corpus will not be able to do anything until they get their water supply issue fixed. I doubt any significant industrial investment could get financing there now.
https://research.engr.oregonstate.edu/brineminers/home
Here's what you're missing.
We have de facto de-industrialized over the last 40 years. Trade deficits transforming us into a service-oriented economy rather than a production-oriented economy. Service industries have very low power requirements. So we could afford to dabble in green energy nonsense and engage in environmental regulation to one level of perfection after another. Now that the piper has come calling on globalism, we must reindustrialize as a matter of national survival. To do so, we are going to need massive investments in energy and infrastructure (pipes & wires). And it will happen.
Power plants are good things. They create a lot of tax base. They pay well. They create enormous wealth. They provide the one essential thing that prevents us from having to live in caves wearing skins of animals killed with wooden spears and flayed with stone tools: ELECTRICITY.
Invest accordingly.
