Coastal barrier option critiqued
‘Ike Dike’ creator says levee proposal needs changes for Galveston, Bolivar residents
Even the original developer of the “Ike Dike” isn’t crazy about a coastal barrier proposal modeled from his idea.
During a meeting hosted by the Galveston City Council on Thursday night intended to gather public comments from residents on a proposed 71-mile “coastal spine,” Bill Merrell, a professor at Texas A&M University at Galveston who developed the Ike Dike concept nearly a decade ago, gave a lengthy presentation on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plan, expressing some concern as to how it would impact residents of Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula.
“It’s the right overall strategy but it can be made better for Texas and its coastal communities,” Merrell said.
Merrell, who based his Ike Dike on a similar dike and levee system that protects the Netherlands, raised a handful of issues with the
plan, from the cost and scope of the project to the engineering of the coastal barrier and the necessity of a “ring levee” to protect Galveston.
The Army Corps plan — proposed in late October and currently in the midst of a 75-day public comment period that was recently extended by 30 days — was a levee system that would begin at High Island, run the length of Bolivar Peninsula, cross the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel with a sea gate, incorporate the existing Galveston sea wall and continue down the west end of Galveston Island. It also would include a “ring levee” on Galveston’s bay side.
Merrell referred to the Corps’ plan as an “Ike Dike strategy with add-ons.” He expressed some sticker shock that the estimate of the proposal has more than tripled, from a $9.5 billion estimate when he conceived the plan to the now nearly $32 billion figure that the coastal spine and all of its supplemental components — which include gates along various Galveston Bay estuaries and massive ecosystem restoration efforts extending down the coast — would cost.
“The costs, I hope, are estimated too high, but if not we’re gonna have to trim this sucker down to something that’s affordable,” Merrell said.
What concerned Merrell most is how the engineering of a coastal spine could impact coastal residents’ beach access and disrupt the natural environment. He called for future design efforts to focus on engineered dune systems — essentially a sea wall barrier covered and fortified by sand — and to test those concepts on both Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island.
“The point is, you can make a totally natural-looking barrier if you wish. And we wish,” Merrell said.
But the idea of more natural barriers drew opposition during the City Council meeting’s public comment period. Joanie Steinhaus, the Gulf program director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network, an advocacy organization for endangered marine species, noted that similar natural barriers developed on Follett’s Island could not be maintained with sand coverage. It now impacts wildlife directly, with sea turtles like the Kemp’s Ridley unable to nest there.
“A fortified dune is a levee system covered in sand, and would also increase beach erosion, even with sand on top of it and in front of the structure,” Steinhaus said.
The vast majority of Galveston residents commenting on the proposed coastal barrier Thursday were not in favor of the project, echoing the near-unanimous opposition voiced in public meetings hosted by the Army Corps of Engineers and Texas General Land Office in December at the Galveston Convention Center and on Bolivar Peninsula.
There were, however, some who spoke more favorably of protection for the island. Elizabeth Beeton, a former City Council member, noted that “the most disastrous decision ever made by Galveston leaders” was a 1972 refusal to accept an offer from the Army Corps of Engineers to encircle half the island with a levee that would have protected 8,000 acres. Beeton warned that ignoring storm surge on the bay side of the island could be catastrophic.
“The city should ask the Corps to model various ring barrier options and other bay protection configurations,” Beeton said.
At the end of the meeting, Galveston Mayor Jim Yarbrough said he hoped Galveston residents would continue to stay engaged throughout the arduous process of studying and, eventually, funding a coastal barrier. The land office and Army Corps recently agreed to extend the public comment period from Jan. 9 to Feb. 8, giving people more time to evaluate the proposal, although the federal government shutdown has prevented the Corps from adding the extension to the federal registry.
“I understand the frustration, it’s just part of the old meat grind system we have to go through,” Yarbrough said. “But I can assure you, what’s been put on the table today, if we end up with anything, won’t be what we end up with.”