Two articles about the Ike Dike. Article 1: Ike Dike may be among Sandy's casualties By Eric Berger | November 4, 2012 | Updated: November 4, 2012 2:38pm Photo By Melissa Phillip/Staf Bill Merrell, TAMU-Galveston oceanographer, proposes to build an Ike Dike from one end of Galveston Island across Bolivar Peninsula Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in Houston. Shown at the statue along the Seawall commemorates the storm that devastated the island city of Galveston in 1900. (Melissa Phillip / Chronicle ) for Eric Berger story Any lingering hope of building a large, protective dike to mitigate storm surge along the upper Texas coast may have died with Hurricane Sandy's landfall near New York. It's been four years since Hurricane Ike crashed into Galveston Island, causing $29.5 billion in damage to the Houston area and spawning the "Ike Dike" concept to protect the region's rapidly growing coastal developments and business interests along the Houston Ship Channel. Now Sandy is the hot new storm, diverting attention and perhaps any possibility of federal funding away from the Texas Gulf Coast for New York, hard hit by Sandy's surge and winds. Inspired by the Dutch "That seems likely to me," said Bill King, a member of the now-inactive Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery District established by the state to study large surge protection projects around Houston. "Nothing really seems to be happening anyway, but it's a little discouraging that if the country does get moving on doing something about sea barriers, we're not going to be on the front of the line." After Ike, Texas A&M-Galveston oceanographer William Merrell proposed the "Ike Dike," a project inspired by Dutch sea barriers that would protect Galveston Island, Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Bay from devastating storm surges. Despite a recent trip led by Merrell to study the 2,300 miles of structures the Netherlands has built along its coast to keep out the North Sea, the idea of a massive, $6.6 billion sea barrier has gained little traction in Houston. Now the discussion has moved to New York. Stony Brook University oceanographer Malcolm J. Bowman and a colleague, Douglas Hill, also inspired by the Dutch, have drawn up a $6 billion plan to wall of New York from the sea. "The time has come," Bowman told the Associated Press after Sandy's landfall. "The city is finally going to have to face this." History against it For all of its tens of billions of dollars in damage to the New York metro area, however, the stock market opened on Wednesday. More normalcy will return this week. With respect to a large sea barrier, New York may be where Houston is in four years - nowhere. While it's clear there are major economic threats to New York, as a hub of the U.S. financial system, and in Houston, with nearly a third of the nation's refining capacity nearby, the federal government has not historically funded preventative measures. "Potential disasters are often considered low probability events and will not get the attention they deserve from policymakers, especially given the competing demands they receive that may require more immediate attention," said Jim HYPERLINK "http://www.chron.com/search/?action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas %2Fhouston&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Jim+Granato%22"Granato, director of the University of Houston Center for Public Policy. "Equally important, a strong constituency that can exert ongoing pressure to see the funds are appropriated is not likely to exist in any meaningful way." In other words, as memory of a storm fades, so does the national willingness to spend large amounts of money on preventative measures. Katrina an exception Hurricane Katrina, of course, was diferent. New Orleans received $14 billion, largely from the federal government, to rebuild its levee system after Katrina. Nearly 2,000 people died in that storm. Dozens died in the United States after Ike and Sandy. Because federal intervention seems increasingly unlikely, some local leaders say the Houston region must not rely on federal funds as it looks to safeguard its future from hurricanes. After Ike, Rice University professors Phil HYPERLINK "http://www.chron.com/search/? action=search&channel=news%2Fhouston-texas %2Fhouston&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Phil+Bedient%22" Bedient and Jim Blackburn created the Severe Storm Prediction Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center to study storms and find solutions. "I think, if anything, Sandy has created a queue where New York and New Jersey are going to be at the head of the list," Blackburn said. Blackburn, Bedient and others have been researching options for mitigating storm surge after Ike, and have focused on smaller projects that could be financed by local bonds. One alternative solution to the dike, Blackburn said, is to build gates at the entrance to the ship channel that would protect the many chemical, industrial and shipping industries critical to the region's economy. Less-costly alternative Such a project, protecting many billions of dollars in infrastructure, would cost less than $1 billion, he said. "Our goal is to selectively harden the Houston-Galveston shoreline," Blackburn declared. "Everything we're working on is being approached from the standpoint of afordability within the financial means of the community." http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Ike-Dike-may-be-among-Sandy-scasualties-4005871.php Article 2: Opponents try to poke hole in Galveston Ike Dike plan Foes try to poke hole in Ike Dike proposal Arguments against barrier used in opposing development on Bolivar HARVEY RICE , HOUSTON CHRONICLE | March 7, 2010 CRYSTAL BEACH Hurricane Ike raged ashore on the Bolivar Peninsula in September 2008 with more fury than anywhere else, but Larry Campbell's vacation house lost only a few shingles and the break-away garage walls on the first floor. Campbell, 62, built his home to the highest building standards because he knew it was on a barrier island where hurricanes are inevitable and Mother Nature will have her way. \"Down here you are a guest,\" Campbell said. A proposed system of dikes and sea gates, dubbed the Ike Dike, would shield Campbell's home, the Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston Island and the Galveston Bay shoreline from devastating storm surges. But Campbell doesn't like the idea. \"It would be very unattractive,\" said Campbell, who purchased his home because it overlooks a section of fast disappearing freshwater wetlands and coastal prairie. He fears a dike would encourage development that would destroy more wildlife habitat. That's the same argument the Houston Sierra Club and other critics are making in opposition to the Ike Dike. The Ike Dike proposal is high on the list of ways to protect the Gulf Coast from storm surges that will be considered by The Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery District. The district is being formed by Harris, Galveston, Brazoria, Chambers, Orange and Jeferson counties and is one of three that will cover the entire Texas coast. National seashore The Sierra Club advocated buying homes in areas most threatened by storm surges and converting the Bolivar Peninsula into a national seashore. It also wants to toughen building standards, harden vulnerable sites such as petrochemical plants, build a sea gate to protect the Houston Ship Channel and limit development on barrier islands. In keeping with that stance, the Sierra Club is joining with the Houston Audubon Society in asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deny a permit for a 160-lot development on the peninsula behind Campbell's home near the intersection of Texas 87 and Boyt Road. The Sierra Club argues that the development proposed by Bolivar Vanguard Ltd. would destroy freshwater wetlands and coastal prairie that are rapidly disappearing while exposing even more people to the danger from storms like Hurricane Ike. \"Hurricane Ike was like a warning shot across the bow of a ship,\" said Sierra Club member Brandt HYPERLINK "http://www.chron.com/search/?action=search&channel=news %2Fhouston-texas&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22Brandt+Mannchen %22"Mannchen, who wrote the club's letter of objection. \"Do we want to go through East Bay debris searching for bodies, not to mention all the money it costs and the anguish and pain?\" Bolivar Vanguard did not respond to a request for comment. Mannchen said the Sierra Club's philosophy is to keep people safe while protecting the environment. The Ike Dike might keep people safe, but Mannchen says it might hurt the environment. A dike could lead to increased erosion and more rapid loss of beaches, as happened in front of the Galveston Seawall, he said. A dike would also create a feeling of safety that could encourage even more development in environmentally sensitive areas, Mannchen said. A dike also would block the benefits that hurricanes bring, he said. \"Hurricanes can do a lot of damage, but they also can do a lot of good,\" Mannchen said. \"Sometimes hurricanes flush out all the waste and kind of rearrange habitats so they can re-establish themselves and be very productive.\" A dike would not ofer protection from a surge coming from the bay side of the dike, Mannchen said. Rural vs. urban remedy William Merrell, who heads the Center for Texas Beaches and Shores at Texas A&M University at Galveston, first proposed the Ike Dike. His proposal entails dikes protecting the peninsula and Galveston Island and huge gates protecting the entrance to the Houston Ship Channel and San Luis Pass at the east end of Galveston Island. Merrell doesn't believe a dike would harm the environment. \"They can't give me an instance to where it will hurt anything,\" he said. He says the Sierra Club and others opposed to a dike need to come forward with firm proposals that can be discussed. As for a surge from the bay, he said modeling done at Texas A&M showed that a dike would have protected the Bolivar Peninsula. Merrell says hardening areas vulnerable to storm surges instead of building the Ike Dike would be costlier and less efective. He said the Sierra Club approach might work in rural counties, but Galveston Bay is already too urbanized. \"National seashores are great, but they won't stop a storm surge,\" he said. William HYPERLINK "http://www.chron.com/search/?action=search&channel=news %2Fhouston-texas&inlineLink=1&searchindex=gsa&query=%22William+Kiene%22" Kiene, regional science coordinator at the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in Galveston, also opposes the Ike Dike, preferring instead to build a dike around the east end of Galveston Island. \"Some have said that the train has left the station and they are all signed on to the Ike Dike,\" Kiene said, but he is hoping the six counties will study all the proposals, including his. harvey.rice@chron.com http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Opponents-try-to-poke-hole-in-Galveston-Ike-Dike1589396.php Other articles about Ike Dike to use. https://www.estuaries.org/pdf/2010conference/tuesday16/galleon1/session1/ike-dikeshort.pdf http://sspeed.rice.edu/sspeed/project_dike.html www.bayareahouston.com/Assets/faq.pdf http://today.tamu.edu/2012/10/09/the-ike-dike-a-solution-for-saving-lives-and-preventing-stormdamage/ http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinions/editorials/article/EDITORIAL-Ike-Dike-sounds-great-butisn-t-5670381.php http://www.galvnews.com/ike/article_e849cdb4-1b5f-11e3-b5f2-0019bb30f31a.html