The Briefing Room
State Chapters => Texas => Topic started by: Elderberry on October 26, 2018, 09:55:31 pm
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Houston Chronicle by Nick Powell Oct. 26, 2018
A dike, also known as the "coastal spine," is being proposed to protect Galveston, Bolivar and the Galveston Bay area from storm surges.
After three years of study, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday that the so-called "Ike Dike" -- the 70-mile-long coastal barrier that could cost as much as $31 billion -- is the preferred choice for protecting the Texas coastline from future storm surges.
The coastal barrier plan, developed in a partnership between the Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas General Land Office, is similar to the original "Ike Dike" proposal made by researchers at Texas A&M University in Galveston after Hurricane Ike devastated southeast Texas in 2008.
"One storm can cost many lives and billions of dollars in damage, so the expense of doing nothing far outweighs the investment to protect and enhance our coast," Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush said in a written statement.
More: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/article/Army-Corps-of-Engineers-releases-coastal-spine-13339550.php (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/article/Army-Corps-of-Engineers-releases-coastal-spine-13339550.php)
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$31 billion buys a lot of political favors, especially with a Bush in charge of the money.
They want to spend 31 billion on a dike, but virtually nothing on a fence to protect our borders?
9999hair out0000
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July 6, 2018
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Feds-OK-4B-for-Ike-Dike-as-July-4th-storm-13052915.php (https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Feds-OK-4B-for-Ike-Dike-as-July-4th-storm-13052915.php)
Even as residents await a long-discussed plan to create a 60-mile barrier, known as the “Ike Dike,†to protect Texas’ Gulf Coast from major hurricanes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Tuesday it would provide nearly $4 billion toward part of the larger barrier system.
One day after an Independence Day rainstorm stirred memories of past Houston floods and underscored how the Houston-Galveston area remains vulnerable to natural disasters, the Corps announced nearly $5 billion in funding for high-priority disaster recovery projects in Texas, much of it designed to spur flood mitigation and continued recovery from Hurricane Harvey.
The biggest item by far is $3.9 billion for the Sabine Pass-to-Galveston Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management and Ecosystem Restoration, a series of upgrades and improvements to 30 miles of existing coastal levees in Port Arthur and Freeport, and the construction of nearly 27 miles of coastal levees in southern Orange County.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/houston-eyes-designer-bonds-in-quest-for-15-billion-storm-wall (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/houston-eyes-designer-bonds-in-quest-for-15-billion-storm-wall)
Now city and state officials in Texas are studying a possible partnership with private industry to create a new kind of bond to help pay for a $15 billion system of seawalls and floodgates, as a warming climate piles more storm risk on the nation’s fourth-largest city. They’re examining the market for catastrophe bonds, in which investors assume the risk for calamities like hurricanes in exchange for above-market returns and portfolio diversification.
“This is why we have financial markets, to come up with this type of solution,’’ said Flavio Cunha, an economics professor at Rice University. “People love when markets can come and help construct some of these projects.’’
At stake: the welfare of $500 billion in industry, including the nation’s largest concentration of oil refineries and chemical plants. The dike could prevent countless homes and lives from being swept away in the 20-foot storm surge that would accompany a direct hit from a major hurricane –- a potentially worse cataclysm than Harvey.
Harvey flooded hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, wreaking $125 billion in damages, a reminder of how vulnerable one of the nation’s most important economic centers remains. After a decade of indecision, officials have rallied around a plan for a seawall almost 60 miles long fitted with massive floodgates at the center to protect Galveston Bay and the industry lining the Houston Ship Channel.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/houston-eyes-designer-bonds-in-quest-for-15-billion-storm-wall (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/houston-eyes-designer-bonds-in-quest-for-15-billion-storm-wall)
Now city and state officials in Texas are studying a possible partnership with private industry to create a new kind of bond to help pay for a $15 billion system of seawalls and floodgates, as a warming climate piles more storm risk on the nation’s fourth-largest city. They’re examining the market for catastrophe bonds, in which investors assume the risk for calamities like hurricanes in exchange for above-market returns and portfolio diversification.
“This is why we have financial markets, to come up with this type of solution,’’ said Flavio Cunha, an economics professor at Rice University. “People love when markets can come and help construct some of these projects.’’
At stake: the welfare of $500 billion in industry, including the nation’s largest concentration of oil refineries and chemical plants. The dike could prevent countless homes and lives from being swept away in the 20-foot storm surge that would accompany a direct hit from a major hurricane –- a potentially worse cataclysm than Harvey.
Harvey flooded hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, wreaking $125 billion in damages, a reminder of how vulnerable one of the nation’s most important economic centers remains. After a decade of indecision, officials have rallied around a plan for a seawall almost 60 miles long fitted with massive floodgates at the center to protect Galveston Bay and the industry lining the Houston Ship Channel.
If they (government) don't stop the flood of illegals into Texas....
the flood of water won't friggin matter. (duh)
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If they (government) don't stop the flood of illegals into Texas....
the flood of water won't friggin matter. (duh)
And one has to do with the other? Huh?
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The IKe Dyke at 31b is a lot, but it can save a lot more than that in avoiding petrochemical infrastructure repair, that benefits all of America, not just Texas.
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And one has to do with the other? Huh?
It's called priorities... and a little thing like national security and national and state sovereignty. If you lose that, you won't really need OR benefit from any expenditures on dams or other infrastructure. It ain't rocket science. It's common sense.
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Now don't get your panties in a bunch. Its not like it will even start before the wall is completed.
Whether the Ike Dike ever becomes a reality, though, depends on persuading Congress to pay for all, or most, of it. The current plan calls for the coastal barrier to be completed by 2035, a date that state legislators would like to see shortened with help from Congress.
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Now don't get your panties in a bunch. Its not like it will even start before the wall is completed.
Whether the Ike Dike ever becomes a reality, though, depends on persuading Congress to pay for all, or most, of it. The current plan calls for the coastal barrier to be completed by 2035, a date that state legislators would like to see shortened with help from Congress.
What makes you think I'm wearing any?