By: Benjamin Wermund

The annual defense bill that Congress is working to pass by the end of the year includes final approval for the plan to build the coastal barrier known as the "Ike Dike" at the mouth of Galveston Bay — likely ensuring that the long-sought, $31-billion dollar project will finally get the green light from the federal government.

IN-DEPTH: The Ike Dike will transform Galveston. See how in a fly-through tour.

It's a major step forward for the project, meant to protect the Houston region from hurricane storm surges, which Texas lawmakers have been working to get authorized for months.

Legislation approving the barrier cleared both chambers this summer. But that bill, the Water Resources Development Act, stalled in negotiations, with lawmakers ironing out differences in the House and Senate versions. It has now been rolled into the annual defense bill, must-pass legislation almost certain to be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The defense bill has bipartisan support and is expected to pass both the House and Senate soon.

“We’ve seen the damage storms and natural disasters can bring to our region over recent years," said U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Houston Democrat. "This will be a huge step toward eventually appropriating money so construction on the Coastal Spine can begin."

The coastal barrier is considered the largest of its kind ever proposed in the nation.

U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a Houston Democrat, called it a "vital project that would stop storm surges at the coast, protecting our region — and our nation — from catastrophic damage.

“The Texas Gulf Coast is home to the Houston Ship Channel, the busiest port in the country by total tonnage, and home to one of the largest refining and petrochemical complexes in the world — a critical component of our country’s national security," she said.

Plans call for a gated structure stretching across the mouth of Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel, as well as 43 miles of dunes protecting the Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula coastline, a "ring levee" that would protect the north side of Galveston island and ecosystem restoration extending southwest to South Padre Island.

It is also costly. The federal government would pay at least $19 billion, and the local region would on the hook for some $11 billion more. The state legislature created an entity called the Gulf Coast Protection District and gave it power to impose taxes for the project in the future.

The defense bill does not include funding for the project, meaning Congress will have to approve spending on it at a later date, something lawmakers have acknowledged could be a "heavy lift."

“Unfortunately, it’s easier to get money after a natural disaster than it is to prevent one,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said in an interview last year.

The project, which could take two decades to complete, draws its name from Hurricane Ike, a catastrophic storm that hammered Galveston and the Texas Gulf Coast in September 2008. Ike rampaged through 26 Texas counties, leaving dozens dead and causing nearly $30 billion in damage before turning north.

Once fully constructed, the Army Corps of Engineers estimates, the project will save $2.2 billion in storm damages every year, though how useful the gates will be when they are complete — or over the half-century or more that the structure is expected to operate — remains to be seen. Like any other levees or dams, the barrier could fall short or fail to hold back the biggest storm surges.

Environmental advocates, meanwhile, have raised concerns about how the foundations of the large gates in the water will impact the flow of water between Galveston Bay and the saltier Gulf. Animal species depend on being able to move freely between the two at different stages of their lives.

The project has bipartisan support from members of the Texas delegation, including both senators.

Cornyn has called it a "national imperative." U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has called it an "important safety measure" that will save money long term by lessening the destruction caused by storms.

Read at Houston Chronicle