Hurricane Harvey dumped 51 inches of rain on the Houston area, flooded hundreds of thousands of homes and left $125 billion in damage. In its aftermath, it was hard to think of anything but making sure that kind of catastrophic flooding didn’t happen again. But as we rightfully pay attention to flooding, we must also widen our focus and ask, what if the next big storm is different?
It’s hard to forget Harvey, but we must remember Ike.
More than a decade after the Category 2 storm battered the region, killed 43 people and caused almost $30 billion worth of damage, we remain vulnerable to storm surge coming up Galveston Bay and into the Houston Ship Channel. The proposed Coastal Spine project to be built by the Army Corps of Engineers — currently a system of sand dunes and gates at the mouth of Galveston Bay — is still in the study phase and is not expected to be finished until 2035 at the earliest, with a cost of about $31 billion.
Its development is an important step in helping protect our region, but we should see it as a part of a multi-tiered effort for a problem that has no single solution. Support for the Coastal Spine shouldn’t stop us from looking at complementary ideas, such as the Galveston Bay Park Plan.
The proposal, developed by Rice University’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education & Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center, would create a 25-foot-high wall up the middle of Galveston Bay as a series of islands, extending from Houston Point down the ship channel to Texas City.
If initial permitting work begins this year, the project could be completed as early as 2027 and would help protect the bay’s west bank, which is home to 800,000 people, 2.2 million barrels of refining capacity and the hundreds of chemical plants along the channel, said Jim Blackburn, an environmental attorney and co-director of the SSPEED Center.
Part of what makes the project stand out is its multi-purpose nature, with its construction resulting in 10,000 acres of public land that would be open for recreational use. Illustrations for the project show areas for camping, fishing, a marina and event space.
“Right now, there is little access to Galveston Bay. There’s one park, Sylvan Beach, but most of it is private shoreline,” Blackburn said. “This would open up Galveston Bay, it would open up a waterfront.”
The Corps of Engineers views the plan as complementary to the Coastal Spine and it could even piggyback off the Port of Houston’s anticipated efforts to deepen and widen the ship channel, using the dredged materials to build the barrier islands.
The project’s price tag is between $3 billion and $5 billion, with a variety of funding options being considered. The SSPEED Center is working with the economics department at Rice University on the viability of social impact bonds, where private money is invested in a public project, as well as grant money and other public-private partnerships. Energy interests along the ship channel and some insurance companies have shown interest, Blackburn said.
The biggest hurdle moving forward is getting a local government sponsor to apply to the Army Corps of Engineers to begin an environmental study. A permit application is not a commitment to build, but it comes with a price — about $2 million for an engineering plan and to ensure the project’s feasible.
If the plan is as viable as it seems, it will serve as a first line of defense years before the Coastal Spine is ready. In the meantime, a high enough storm surge could wipe out refineries and storage facilities, an economic and environmental disaster from which the community would spend decades recovering.
Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia hosted a recent public presentation of the plan and liked what he saw. While he hasn’t yet committed to pushing for county sponsorship, he welcomes the effort for a multi-pronged approach to dangerous storms such as Hurricane Ike.
“I want to see plans that will protect the community and the industry. Eleven years later with nothing to show for it is an embarrassment,” he said.
We agree.
Harris, Galveston and Chambers counties, individually or in partnership, should sponsor the needed permit. Refineries and other firms that will benefit from its protection should help pay for it. The Galveston Bay Park Plan is a creative, timely solution that deserves to be fully explored.
