Houston Chronicle by Nick Powell Feb. 8, 2020
Burkett, a geologist who lives near Port Bolivar on Bolivar Peninsula, has long been suspicious of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to build a $32 billion, 71-mile barrier system to protect the southeast Texas coast, even as the agency’s proposal has shifted from a hard barrier with levees and gates to its current iteration — a natural dune system from High Island to San Luis Pass with a ring barrier around the most populated section of Galveston and a massive sea gate across the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel.
He hoped that Saturday’s public meeting on the barrier proposal — the first of three such meetings hosted by the Army Corps and the Texas General Land Office — might provide some clarity on the project. A second meeting will be held in Galveston on Feb. 12, followed by a meeting in Seabrook on Feb. 13.
A large map of the proposed dune system for Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula lay on a table near the entrance of the gym, with a magnifying glass for residents to examine up close. Burkett stood back, eyeing the map warily.
“What are you really trying to protect?†Burkett asked an Army Corps employee stationed near the map. “We haven’t had a major surge event other than (Hurricane Ike) really for a long time. So the idea of saying, ‘Well we need this,’ what do we need it for?â€
That original plan called for the construction of levees that would run parallel to FM 3005 on Galveston Island and Texas 87 on Bolivar Peninsula but behind the dune line. This plan for the harder barrier would have left thousands of homes adjacent to the beach exposed to flooding and likely required extensive eminent domain buyouts.
More:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Coastal-residents-remain-wary-of-barrier-proposal-15041519.php
