U.S. House Approves $31 Billion Ike Dike Texas Coast Project
The U.S. House approved a bill that would authorize federal agencies to begin planning for an estimated $31 billion coastal barrier project. The bill will also require Senate approval.
According to The Texas Tribune, the largest portion of the project is known as the “Ike Dike,” which is named after the hurricane that occurred in Galveston Island in 2008. The concrete gate system will span a nearly 2 mile gap from Galveston Island to Bolivar Peninsula, reported The Texas Tribune.
The gate project requires at least $16 billion and 18 years to build, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates, reported The Texas Tribune. There are also plans to build a series of other Texas coastal infrastructure and environmental projects to strengthen Texas’ shoreline against hurricane storm surge and rising sea levels.
The Texas coastal project is included in the Senate and House versions of the Water Resources Development Act, reported The Texas Tribune.
According to Lt. General Scott Spellmon, the chief of engineers for the Corps, a report on the project that predicted that more than 1,500 acres of wetlands and oyster reefs will be affected by the project and require mitigation, reported The Texas Tribune. Additionally, approximately 1,400 acres of habitat will be created or restored to offset the environmental impacts.
The Ike Dike was created by Bill Merrell, a marine sciences professor at Texas A&M University in Galveston. He studied ways of protecting the ship channel after Hurricane Ike in 2008, reported The Texas Tribune.
The current Corps plan includes artificial islands anchoring huge floating gates, which would close as water levels rise. On each side of the floating gates, concrete towers would rise more than 100 feet in the air, holding vertical gates that eventually lower into the water.
The gates are expected to reduce surge into Galveston Bay by 30 to 60%, according to the Corps analysis, reported The Texas Tribune.
Galveston Island would also get a taller seawall and bigger sand dunes. Beaches on the Bolivar Peninsula would be expanded with more dunes added. Further into the Bay, Clear Lake and Dickinson Bay would both get pump stations and barrier structures. South along the coast will include more than 100 miles of breakwaters, as well as ecosystem restoration projects on more than 2,000 acres of marsh. A levee system in Orange County is included in the Corps’ plan, added The Texas Tribune.
Some landowners in Orange County and along the Texas coast will have their land taken by the government if it is in the path of the project, however, reported The Texas Tribune.
