BY STAS MARGARONIS, RBTUS
Texas and California are leading the way advocating for new infrastructure investment in seawalls to protect against higher sea levels and storm surges.
While the two states differ on the need for renewable energy investment to combat global warming, both states are gearing up to for investments in new seawalls:
* Texans are lobbying the federal government for $14 billion to protect the Gulf Coast oil refineries and chemical facilities adjoining the Ports of Galveston and Houston.
*Californians in San Francisco will be voting on a $500 million bond issue to protect the Port of San Francisco and downtown San Francisco.
Leaders in both states are campaigning for new investments to build seawalls that will be an added item along with highways, bridges, locks and dams that will require new infrastructure investment. This means more U.S. infrastructure investments at a time when the nation’s roads and waterways are already hobbled by federal cutbacks and massive tax cuts.
SAN FRANCISCO SEEKS $500 MILLION SEAWALL
The City of San Francisco, through the San Francisco Port Commission, is endeavoring to make major improvements to the over 100-year-old Embarcadero Seawall so the city can withstand the next major earthquake and can prepare for sea level rise, according to a Port of San Francisco press release.
The goal is to pay for it with a $500 million bond issue to be voted on in November.
A poll found that nearly three-quarters of voters say they would vote “yes” on a bond measure to fund improvements to San Francisco’s Seawall, based on a citywide voter survey. Seventy-three percent of voters polled were in favor of a proposed general obligation bond measure of up to $500 million which is being considered for the November 2018 ballot. The bond measure would help protect and strengthen the Embarcadero Seawall.
The Embarcadero Seawall, which stretches 3 miles from Fisherman’s Wharf to Mission Creek in San Francisco sits over unstable mud and is vulnerable to lateral spreading and settlement in a major earthquake, which could destroy or seriously damage utilities, light rails and buildings along The Embarcadero.
Major investment in the Seawall is required for The Embarcadero to function properly after a major seismic event. It would be a place for people to exit downtown and to access ferries. First responders would also be able to access downtown.
The Seawall is also subject to current flooding, with lane closures during King Tides, and current flood risk to the Muni (San Francisco bus and trolley system) tunnel along The Embarcadero.
While more than half of voters surveyed reported visiting the San Francisco Waterfront multiple times a month (54%), and only one in three (35%) said they were familiar with the City’s Seawall that provides the foundation to over three miles of San Francisco’s waterfront stretching from Fisherman’s Wharf south to Mission Creek near AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.
“The Embarcadero Roadway, the Downtown Ferry Terminal and the City Auxiliary Water Supply System are key parts of San Francisco’s emergency response network,” explained Mayor Mark Farrell. “Ensuring the seismic safety of the Seawall supports disaster response across all corners of the city – and voters understand this.”
TEXAS GULF COAST OIL REFINERIES AND CHEMICAL COMPANIES WANT $14 BILLION FOR SEAWALLS, LEVIES & FLOODGATES
Oil and chemical companies are lobbying the federal government to invest $14 billion on new seawalls, levies and flood gates to protect the Ports of Galveston, Houston and nearby Gulf coast communities according to a Bloomberg report.[1]
The proposed system of seawalls, levies and flood gates in the Galveston, Texas, area would cost an estimated $14 billion, and would be designed to reduce flood damage similar to that seen by Hurricane Ike’s storm surge in 2008, Bloomberg reported.
Chemical companies are pressing federal officials to spend billions of dollars on a coastal flood control system near Houston to protect petrochemical plants, oil refineries and shipping infrastructure from the next hurricane.
Bloomberg reported that:
The Coastal Spine, as the project is called, is among the most important infrastructure investments needed to mitigate damage from major storms, according to Bob Patel, chief executive officer of LyondellBasell Industries NV. He was speaking at an industry conference to discuss lessons learned from Hurricane Harvey.
The flood barrier should extend from Freeport, Texas, where DowDuPont has its largest manufacturing site, to Beaumont on the upper Texas coast, where Exxon Mobil Corp. has chemical plants and refineries, said state Senator Larry Taylor, a Republican from the Houston area.
National Security Risk
Texas oil and chemical companies argue that higher storm surges and heavier rainfall such as those that flooded Houston in 2017 and shut down the Port of Houston pose a national security risk to the Texas Gulf Coast justifying the $14 billion investments.
Protecting the oil and chemical industries is critical to the regional and national economies, said Cal Dooley, president of the American Chemistry Council, sponsor of the industry conference.
Safeguarding motor-fuel production and the Port of Houston is also a matter of national security, he said.
“You get that larger storm surge coming up there and we might not have the port shut down for a week — it could be shut down for months,” Texas State Senator Taylor said.
The impact of Hurricane Harvey also showed the need to invest in stronger railroad infrastructure and ship channel dredging, said LyondellBasell’s Patel.
Some of the region’s infrastructure is 70 years old and needs upgrading, particularly since companies are investing tens of billions of dollars building new chemical plants in the area, said Jim Fitterling, chief operating officer of DowDuPont Co. The storm threat won’t deter the company’s Dow unit from a plan to spend another $6 billion along the Gulf Coast after spending a comparable amount in the region in recent years, he said.
“Our view is, the Gulf Coast is the chemical industry,” Fitterling told Bloomberg.
Senator Ted Cruz Pushes for Funding
As Hurricane Harvey was more of a rain than a storm-surge event, it revealed problems such as low-lying pumps at factories that now are being raised, Patel said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin studying a coastal barrier using the most recently approved tranche of hurricane disaster funding approved by Congress, Senator Ted Cruz said.
“The ball is rolling forward,” Cruz told the gathering in Pasadena, Texas.
Local officials are seeking an $8 billion grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the project, said Hector L. Rivero, president of the Texas Chemical Council. As much as $35 million in local funds would be needed to fund annual maintenance of the barrier, he said.
CONCLUSION
The effects of storm surges, higher rainfall and sea level rises are all consistent with climate change generated by global warming that scientists say are partly generated by fossil fuel emissions.
While Californians and Texans may not agree on this conclusion, they share the belief that new infrastructure investments are necessary to protect ports, cities and coast lines through new seawalls and other coastal protections.
The $14 billion price tag for protecting the Texas Gulf Coast, championed by Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, speaks to the growing demand by American companies that the federal government not only invest more in highways, bridges, locks and dams but also seawalls.
These are not investments that can be afforded following massive federal tax cuts. The investments in seawalls add new urgency to taking global warming and its economic impact to Pacific, Gulf and Atlantic coast communities of sea-level rises and storm surges seriously.
Further delays run the risk that U.S. ports, coastal installations and coastal cities may face chronic flooding that is irreversible.
[1] http://gcaptain.com/galveston-need-14-billion-storm-barrier/