Lessons from Hurricane Ike

Ch12: Steps to the Future

Introduction hurricane ike was not a worst case storm for our region. ike came ashore to the east of metropolitan houston and caused most of its damage through surge flooding to Galveston island, the Bolivar Peninsula, and areas immediately adjacent to Galveston Bay, with more widespread wind damage over the houston region. Major surge damage also occurred eastward into the Sabine lake watershed. Although ike caused upwards of $24 billion in damage, the damage could easily have reached $100 billion if it had come ashore further south, in the San luis Pass area. More than anything, ike exposed the vulnerability of the houston-Galveston region to a major storm. in the aftermath of ike, a call for responsive action was sounded, first by dr. William Merrell in his proposal for the “ike dike,” a levee and sea gate structure extending from Freeport to high island, and then in the report of the Governor’s Commission for disaster Recovery and Renewal. Following this report, the Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery district was created to study and potentially finance infrastructure improvements in Orange, Jefferson, Chambers, Galveston , harris and Brazoria counties. the key question facing the region is what should be done to prepare and protect the region in the event that another storm such as ike or one with higher winds and a more substantial surge tide hits the region. in the sections that follow, a series of alternative approaches to become more resilient are set out. however, prior to discussing various alternatives, it is useful to consider certain aspects of the regulatory and funding climate that are emerging in late 2010. Challenges in Obtaining Federal Funding As will be discussed in later sections, the size and costs of certain structural and even nonstructural alternatives Steps to the Future Jim Blackburn, Thomas Colbert, and Kevin Shanley 12 Blackburn, Colbert, and Shanley 157 are large. Although money to initiate detailed studies of these alternatives may be generated locally, it is very unlikely that the money to implement one or more of these alternatives will come from either state or local government sources. instead, the houstonGalveston region will likely look to the federal government to obtain funding , relying upon the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the United States Congress to provide money. in the past, the region has benefitted significantly from federal largesse along the coast; however, the rules and realities of 2010 are different from those in effect when levees were built around texas City and Freeport. A short survey of these rules and changes is useful in helping formulate the next steps needed for regional action. National Environmental Policy Act First, the applicability of the national Environmental Policy Act (nEPA) must be considered. nEPA was passed in 1969 and has long been applicable to major federal actions. nEPA is a procedural act that requires the full development and articulation of alternatives and their environmental impacts in an environmental impact statement . the rules implementing nEPA are clear in this regard. the development and comparative evaluation of alternatives is the “heart” of the environmental impact statement process . the nEPA process requires that “no action” be evaluated along with a full range of “fundamentally different ways of achieving project purposes.” it requires honest and transparent development and evaluation of alternative courses of action and provides a mechanism for review of such actions by the federal court system. nEPA is procedural rather than substantive. however, if there are substantive rules and regulations that interact with the nEPA alternatives and disclosure requirements, nEPA becomes a force that will shape federal decision-making and ultimately alternative selection. in addition to older statutes such as the Endangered Species Act, there are several new developments that will shape project development in the future. Emerging Sustainability Concepts if federal money is to be obtained for a flood surge control project, the likelihood is that the USACE will be the lead agency. in turn, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) evaluates projects under criteria developed according to US Water Resources Council in the “Economic and Environmental Principles and Guidelines for Water and Related land Resources implementation Steps to the Future 158 Studies” first drafted in 1983 to guide federal agencies addressing water resource development (Watt 1983). however, the principles and guidelines have been in the process of being changed by the USACE since the Water Resources and development Act of 2007. More recently, President Obama instructed...