Long-sought coastal barrier takes on new urgency in wake of Harvey Mayor Turner, business leaders reaffirm need for protection from storm surges

A seawall that would protect the Bolivar Peninsula from storm surges is part of the $11.6 billion "Ike Dike" plan. A seawall that would protect the Bolivar Peninsula from storm surges is part of the $11.6 billion "Ike Dike" plan. Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Staff Photo: Michael Ciaglo, Staff Image 1 of / 26 Caption Close Long-sought coastal barrier takes on new urgency in wake of Harvey 1 / 26 Back to Gallery

Houston area officials and business leaders on Tuesday reaffirmed their demands for a federally-funded coastal wall that would protect the area from storm surges. State leaders, meanwhile, separately announced a new committee to study the viability of the long-debated project.

The so-called "Ike Dike" would create a "coastal spine" in Galveston Bay that could be opened and closed to control the massive flows of water that precipitate tropical storms and hurricanes.

On Tuesday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and others again urged Congress to fund the estimated $11.5 billion project along with the disaster relief package lawmakers are currently considering in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

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"We know there is going to be another storm," said Turner, who gave his strongest endorsement to date. "And the intensity of these storms are increasing. And, quite frankly, if we're going to be smart, then we're going to factor in mitigation."

"Let's not miss the lesson (of Harvey)," he said.

Devastating as it was, Turner and others said, Hurricane Harvey would be nothing compared to the myriad health and economic catastrophes that could occur if a storm directly hit the hundreds of businesses, plants and refineries in the Port of Houston.

In a video produced to support the project that was released at the Tuesday press conference, business leaders and officials imagined the fallout if the area's petrochemical and other factories were taken offline by a Category 5 hurricane.

"Either we are going to make the investment that can prevent huge losses," Turner said. "Or we're going to be shortsighted and think that we have got plenty of time, and then wait until it's too late and literally be spending $100 billion."

Similar projects have been built in the wake of disasters in New Orleans and on the East Coast. But nearly a decade after Hurricane Ike -- the storm which largely spurred talk of a dike in the first place -- Congress has yet to finance a project for the Houston-Galveston region.

On Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick separately announced the creation of the Joint Interim Committee to Study a Coastal Barrier System.

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"In recent days we have seen how important it is that Texas has the best possible systems and infrastructure in place, not only for day-to-day operations, but also for unexpected and sometimes disastrous events," Patrick said in a statement to the media.

He said Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, will be part of the committee. Taylor in April introduced a bill to create an Ike Dike authority by expanding the purview of the Gulf Coast Waste Disposal Authority to the six counties protected by the hypothetical barrier.

Such an authority, of course, would be of little good without a barrier, or the federal funding for it.

"This is a huge part of the project and it also shows that Texas is very serious," Jackie King, Taylor's chief district director, said at the time. "Not a single ounce of what the authority does is impacted unless the feds approve construction of a coastal spine."