Posted on May 20, 2019
Plans to maximize traffic in the Houston Ship Channel could dovetail with a Rice University proposal to protect the region’s coastal communities from future storm surges.
At a community meeting Wednesday night, representatives from Rice University’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education & Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center detailed their proposal for a 25-foot-high wall across the middle of Galveston Bay.
The proposal, called the Galveston Bay Park Plan, is different from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to build 71 miles of barriers along the Texas coast, which is halfway through the study process and not expected to start construction until 2025 on the most optimistic timeline.
Jim Blackburn, an environmental attorney and co-director of the SSPEED Center, believes the Galveston Bay Park Plan could provide vital protection a lot sooner than the coastal barrier. He estimates it could be completed by 2027, providing protection for vulnerable communities on the west bank of the bay as well as the industrial sector along the Houston Ship Channel.
“We think it’s totally compatible with the (coastal barrier) process that’s going on now, but what we’re talking about is supplementing what the Corps has been doing with, basically, self-help,” Blackburn said.
Blackburn sees an opportunity to move his plan forward as the Port of Houston Authority works with the Army Corps of Engineers to obtain authorization to deepen and widen ship channel. The dredging spoils for that project would provide the raw material to build the barrier islands in the bay.
“Why shouldn’t we put (the dredging spoils) to work and build the protection that we can, quickly?” Blackburn said.
In a recent paper, Blackburn wrote that his models show the Army Corps’ original plan for 17-foot levees along the coast — the agency has since pivoted to 8- to 13-foot-high coastal dunes — would not prevent flooding in the Houston Ship Channel, Bayport Industrial District and residential areas on the western shore if that area were hit by a Category 3 storm with a 25-foot storm surge. Such an event would risk the release of toxins from ruptured petrochemical tanks.
The 25-foot barriers would essentially be a system of islands extending from Houston Point in Chambers County down the ship channel to the Texas City levee system, and eventually would allow access to the islands for recreational use. The park plan also calls for raising the Texas City levees and for a backside levee to protect Galveston.
There are still hurdles to overcome for the Galveston Bay Park plan to come to fruition, including the need for a government sponsor to apply to the Army Corps to begin an environmental study.
The project’s price tag. estimated between $3 billion and $5 billion, is significantly lower than the $32 billion it could cost to build a coastal barrier. Blackburn said the project could be financed with the help of the private sector. He said there is already interest among the industrial tenants along the ship channel to help finance the project, as well as some of the region’s major insurance companies.
Source: houstonchronicle.com
