Army Corps targets path to fund Ike Dike
Coastal barrier could get financial backing through flood mitigation infrastructure bill
When President Joe Biden proposed a nearly $2 trillion infrastructure bill, some Texas officials had high hopes that it might include funding for the longawaited “Ike Dike” project to protect the Houston-Galveston region from catastrophic storm surge.
However, the Army Corps of Engineers is pursuing another funding route for the $26 billion project.
Col. Timothy Vail, commander for the Corps’ Galveston district, said the agency is adhering to a methodical federal process as it works toward completing the chief engineer’s report on the massive coastal barrier, siloed from Washington’s political headwinds.
The goal, Vail said, is for that report to be ready for funding through the 2022 Water Resources Development Act, a biennial, typically bipartisan bill that helps pay for flood mitigation infrastructure across the country.
“Congress would have a substantial amount of time to review this report, potentially have hearings on this report, ask questions on their report, both formally and informally before the Water Resource Development Act (of 2022)” was drafted, Vail said in an interview at the Corps’ Galveston headquarters.
Members of Texas’ congressional delegation are exploring whether the infrastructure bill could at least partially fund the project, but time is a factor with Biden aiming to get a bill passed by this summer. The Corps is still months away from officially putting the project on the table for
congressional funding.
Corps officials said they are sorting through a final round of public comments as they target late August or early September for release of the final report. The agency will first submit the project for review to the governor’s office and federal and state officials. Then it goes to Congress for consideration.
Part of infrastructure bill?
The barrier proposal calls for a gated structure stretching across the mouth of Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel that could be activated in the event of major storms. It also calls for 43 miles of dunes protecting the Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula coastline, as well as gates where Galveston Bay meets Clear Lake and Dickinson Bayou, and a “ring levee” that would protect the north side of Galveston island.
At least one Houston Democrat, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, is working to ensure Biden’s $1.8 trillion infrastructure package includes funding for the latest version of so-called Ike Dike. Fletcher is making the case to the Biden administration and Democrats on key committees drafting the infrastructure bill that a catastrophic storm surge in the Houston Ship Channel would have devastating economic ripple effects, potentially crippling the busiest port in the country and much of the nation’s petrochemical industry.
But Biden’s infrastructure plan doesn’t include specific projects, and it’s unclear whether the $50 billion that the plan earmarks to guard the country against powerful storms would help fund the coastal barrier. Biden, who made a pitch for the infrastructure bill during appearances Thursday in Lake Charles, La., and New Orleans, has indicated to congressional leaders that he wants the measure passed this summer.
The entire coastal barrier project, which includes ecosystem restoration extending southwest to South Padre Island, is expected to cost $26 billion, with the dunes and sea gate at the ship channel alone accounting for $14 billion to $18 billion of that total. Once fully constructed, the Corps estimates the project will save $2.2 billion in storm damage every year.
Vail did not dismiss the possibility that Congress could choose to fund the barrier through other forms of legislation, but he said “largely, Congress needs a (chief engineer’s) report to authorize” funding.
“The important thing is the due process,” Vail said. “It’s not for me to tell Congress what they can or can’t do. Clearly, it’s within their authority to authorize (funding for the coastal barrier) outside of a Water Resource Development Act.”
Rocio Cruz, a spokeswoman for Fletcher, clarified that she is pushing to create a funding stream for coastal resiliency projects such as the Ike Dike.
“She’s aware that the (Ike Dike) final report isn’t going to be ready for the American Jobs Plan, but we wanted to make sure that there’s a federal funding mechanism in place for when that is available,” Cruz said.
Funding stream debated
It is unclear if Texas Republicans would push for the Ike Dike in the infrastructure bill, which many have criticized as too costly.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a leading backer of the project, has previously said he would push for congressional funding for the barrier “once the plan is final.” A Cornyn aide reaffirmed that the Republican senator “is ready to fund the project however makes the most sense once the study is completed.”
A spokesman for the Texas General Land Office, which is cosponsoring the coastal barrier study along with the Corps, said there was “no chance” the final report on the project would be completed in time for it to be funded in the infrastructure bill.
“Until that (chief engineer’s) report is out, we’re kind of in a holding pattern,” said Matt Attwood, press secretary for the Land Office, which is led by Republican Commissioner George P. Bush.
Supporters of the Corps proposal familiar with the congressional wrangling around the Ike Dike say the Texas delegation is pursuing funds for the coastal barrier through both WRDA and the infrastructure bill.
“If we get $3 billion out of the infrastructure bill and additional money out of the WRDA bill, that’ll carry us easily to two and a half, three years (of construction),” said Bob Mitchell, president of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership.
In an ideal world, supporters say, the barrier proposal would receive a direct appropriation to expedite construction. Calls for a coastal barrier intensified after Hurricane Ike in 2008, and officials said major hurricanes that narrowly missed the region last summer could have proved devastating.
The advantages to full funding upfront, Vail said, is that it would give the Corps flexibility in choosing contractors early in the design-build process. But full funding also would put significant pressure on the Corps to deliver projects on concrete timelines without going over budget.
“Largely, appropriators when they put that kind of money (into a project) want to see it executed,” Vail said.
Breaking ground
If the project is funded through the 2022 WRDA, the Corps could conceivably break ground by 2024. The sea gates across the mouth of Galveston Bay, the most construction-intensive portion of the project, would take about 19 years to complete from start to finish.
“That has to do with the fact that we have to go into much more detail in the design, but also a lot of environmental assessment,” said Kelly Burks-Copes, the project manager for the Army Corps’ Coastal Texas Study.
In the meantime, the Corps is taking a keen interest in tracking the state Legislature’s consideration of a bill to create a regional Gulf Coast Protection District that could levy property taxes and issue bonds to build and maintain the coastal barrier and cover the state’s 35 percent cost share of the project. That bill has been approved by the state Senate and will soon be voted on by the Texas House.
“The Gulf Coast Protection District, based on our review of the legislation, will absolutely be able to sign project agreements with the Corps of Engineers to deliver the coastal Texas project” in the scheduled time frame, Vail said.