Posted on May 3, 2018
By Nick Powell, Chron
Repairs to Buffalo Bayou and dredging of the Houston Ship Channel and Galveston Harbor and Channel are among a handful of projects that would receive federal funding under a package announced Tuesday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Corps said in a news release that it was allocating about $360 million to address high-priority needs in states recently affected impacted by natural disasters, including several in Texas.
The initial allocation will help make progress on 32 projects in 12 states. The funding for these projects comes as a part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, signed into law on Feb. 9.
The law provides $17.4 billion to the Corps for disaster recovery in six appropriations accounts: Investigations; Construction; Mississippi River and Tributaries; Operation and Maintenance; Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies; and Expenses.
The 32 projects are being funded through an initial allocation of approximately $360 million of the $608 million of appropriations in the Operation and Maintenance account.
“As Texas continues on the road to recovery, our shipping channels and bayous are among the highest priorities for investment and repair,” said Gov. Greg Abbott. “These projects and improvements will address concerns in a number of local communities affected by Harvey and help combat future flood events. I thank the Army Corps of Engineers for their commitment to these initial projects and look forward to expanding upon this list as Texas continues to recover and rebuild.”
Though it is not yet clear how the money will be divided, the funds from the Corps will go toward repair work on the Buffalo Bayou tributaries, namely the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, as well as dredging of the Houston Ship Channel, Galveston Harbor and Channel and the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. Since the Corps does not qualify for FEMA disaster money, they had to make a direct appeal to Congress for additional funds.
“This has given us an opportunity to catch up where we lost ground monetarily and project-wise during Harvey and get back to a state where we’ll be able to move forward for the rest of the fiscal year,” said Richard Long, the natural resources manager for the Houston project office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Long said that some of the money would go towards simply normalizing its operating budget. The Corps sustained substantial damage at its field office on the west side of Houston, and will use some of the money to continue its inspections of any “hidden issues” in the dams and reservoir.
“If there’s issues that have occurred on Brays [Bayou] and Wide Oak [Bayou] that flood control brings forward to us, some of those funds may be able to be used for that, but most of the funds are going to be used towards Addicks and Barker,” Long said.
Many of the Corps’ navigation projects along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, the Houston Ship Channel, and Galveston Harbor sustained some shoaling damage during Harvey, reducing the depths of those waterways by 5 to 10 feet in some areas. The dredging of those shoaling areas meant that the deposit areas for the Corp’s normal dredging projects were at capacity.
Long added that the Corps’ dam safety construction project, the long-term plan to address the aging infrastructure at the Addicks and Barker Dams, will continue, with an anticipated completion date of “late 2020, early 2021 right now.”
Other projects slated to receive funding are the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, as well as the Channel to Victoria; the Matagorda Ship Channel; the Sabine Neches Waterway; and Wallisville Lake
Source: Chron
