ARMY CORPS TO HOUSTON: IS THIS UNFUNDED PLAN FOR AN IKE DIKE SOMETHING YOU COULD GET BEHIND? 
Last Friday the Army Corps picked a favorite from among the 4 massive coastal defense plans it’d been studying — all variants of ideas Rice and A&M researchers proposed following Ike and said Houston needed to build in order to stand a chance against the next gigantic hurricane. The chosen one — a $23 to $31 billion undertaking — suggests constructing new levees that’d span all of both Galveston Island and of Bolivar Peninsula, upgrading Galveston’s existing seawall, and tying the whole thing together with a giant gate between the 2 islands that’d prevent storm surge from shooting the gap between them and entering the Ship Channel. A so-called “ring levee” — indicated above in red — would also shield Galveston’s backside from high water retreating back into the Gulf after a storm. For 75 days, the Corps will be taking comments on the plan in writing, or in person at any of the 6 public meetings it plans to host in November and December. Once the plan is finalized, “it will be eligible for congressional funding” — reports the Texas Tribune‘s Kiah CollierĂ‚Â — “a phase with no deadline that many think could take years.” [Texas Tribune; full Corps study; previously on Swamplot] Map: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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NO!!! The dike won’t stop the rain from falling BEHIND the dike !!!!!
I’m okay with this if we tax the hell out of the refining companies to pay for it. They would be huge beneficiaries of this project.
Cue the inevitable, “yeah, but if surge pushes up through the Ship Channel, we all risk the environmental impact caused by the potential destruction of refineries.” True, but the public didn’t put all the hydrocarbons there, and the public doesn’t profit off of those operations.
This will be an environmental disaster. Restricting the natural currents connecting to the Gulf will turn the bay too fresh and will lead to massive silting problems.