Posted on August 24, 2026
By Chris Gray
It’s just two government agencies agreeing to work together, but symbolically, a freshly signed accord between the Texas General Land Office and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers marks a major procedural milestone for the Coastal Texas Project, the epic storm-surge mitigation plan that includes the Ike Dike.
However, the project, abbreviated CTX, is so massive that this week’s memorandum of understanding between the GLO and Army Corps has nothing to do with the Ike Dike per se. Announced on Thursday, the agreement covers a much less publicized part of the project: widespread ecosystem restoration measures along the coast and the Coastal Storm Risk Management project on South Padre Island.
“Continuing our partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is crucial to securing our coast’s resiliency to natural disasters,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., said in a GLO news release. “As Texas Land Commissioner, I am committed to furthering our education and understanding of storms and their impact on our coastal communities.”
The nearly $35 billion project’s funding breakdown is 65-35 in favor of the federal government. Design and project partnership agreements will follow to “formally establish the long-term construction partnership between the GLO and Corps, the release added.
“The Coastal Texas Project demonstrates how building infrastructure for the nation means more than constructing barriers and restoring shorelines-it means strengthening the systems that sustain communities, commerce, energy production, and national security along the Texas coast,” Col. David W. Dake, Commander of the Corps’ Galveston District, said in the release.
The Army Corps’ other state-level CTX partner is the Gulf Coast Protection District (GCPD), a special-purpose district created by the Texas Legislature in 2021 and the lead non-federal sponsor of the Galveston Bay Storm Surge Barrier System-that’s the Ike Dike. GCPD executive director Coalter Baker praised this week’s agreement as a promising sign of things to come.
“Every step like this helps lay the groundwork for the project’s long-term success,” he added, “and GCPD remains focused on advancing our own elements alongside our partners.”
