we like ike
Houston-Gulf Coast region receives $34 billion for Ike Dike and more hurricane protection
A new bill sends $34B to the Galveston/Gulf Coast area.
Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast have received critical funding for disaster preparedness and a coastal barrier called the Ike Dike.
President Joe Biden signed the National Defense Authorization Act, providing nearly $858 billion in military funding. As part of that, $34 billion proposal to build a system that would prevent major storm surges along the Texas coast.
"This was a huge step in the authorization, a critical one in the process," Brian D. Freedman, with the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, said.
Freedman, president of the organization champions Friday's move, when Biden authorized a $34 billion proposal that would include building a storm surge protection system.
"So, now the focus is on the appropriation side of the equation and making sure that there's funding to continue to move forward," Freedman said.
He says it's an important step in the fight to prevent major disasters from happening like the one we went through back in 2008.
"It was roughly $30 billion in damage in a hurricane, level 3, and was the start of the Ike Dike concept," Freedman said.
According to a Texas A&M professor, the concept would be a solution to protecting the Galveston-Houston area from a storm surge disaster.
"The Houston area is home to one of the world's largest petrochemical complexes, a huge portion of the military's jet aviation fuel, commercial aviation fuel, petrochemical products that go into things we use every day across the country," Freedman explained.
-----
Continue reading this story, with accompanying video, on our new partner ABC13.
