Turner backs Ike Dike plan

Mayor’s support increases chance for OK from city

GALVESTON — Mayor Sylvester Turner has endorsed the “Ike Dike” storm surge protection proposal, raising the possibility that Houston could be one of the last cities in the Galveston Bay area to endorse the $6 billion project.

If the City Council passes a resolution endorsing the Ike Dike concept, the Bayou City would become the 27th municipality in the region to back the plan aimed at protecting Harris, Galveston and Chambers counties.

A City Council resolution supporting the plan would give important political momentum to the Ike Dike concept, which would need federal money to be undertaken.

“I look forward to advancing this effort with my colleagues on the Houston City Council,” Turner wrote in his Aug. 5 letter to state Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and state Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Port Arthur, the co-chairmen of the Texas Joint Interim Committee to Study a Coastal Barrier System.

Turner wrote that he backed the coastal protection recommendation, dubbed the Ike Dike, put forward in a June report by the Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery District, formed after Hurricane Ike caused $26 billion in damage in 2008. The six-county district was created to study storm surge protection but does not have authority to raise money.

The report also recommended storm protection plans for Brazoria, Jefferson and Orange counties.

“Providing multiple lines of defense against storm surge, including a comprehensive system of barriers and gates extending along Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula to create a ‘coastal spine,’ would protect the economy, the environment, and most importantly, the people in the greater Houston region,” Turner wrote.