Ike Dike's progress is slow 15 years after hurricane
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Hurricane Ike struck Texas 15 years ago. Photo: Paul Flipse/US Air Force via Getty Images
It's been 15 years since Hurricane Ike thrashed the Texas coast and spurred a push for a coastal barrier to protect the region from devastating storm surge.
Driving the news: Wednesday marks the anniversary of the hurricane's landfall over Galveston Bay, which wreaked havoc across Southeast Texas, leaving more than 70 dead in Texas and causing more than $30 billion in damage in the U.S.
- Nine years later, Hurricane Harvey left 68 people dead in Texas and caused $125 billion in damage.
Catch up quick: A proposed coastal barrier, nicknamed the Ike Dike after the 2008 storm, is still struggling to find federal funding.
- The spine would be a collection of floodgates, levees and other physical barriers to protect much of the Gulf Coast, including the Port of Houston and the region's vulnerable petrochemical facilities.
- The project would cost $31 billion and take up to a decade to construct.
Yes, but: The proposed barriers wouldn't be able to withstand all storms, especially in light of the changing climate.
The intrigue: Recent pushes in Congress to get even relatively small amounts of federal funding have stalled, despite the project receiving congressional approval in 2022.
- Rep. Randy Weber, a Republican representing Galveston, asked the House Committee on Appropriations in June to allocate $100 million toward the project in the federal government's Fiscal Year 2024 budget.
- The committee denied his request. Weber said Republicans' push to reduce federal spending could create even more hurdles for funding the Ike Dike, per the Texas Tribune.
What they're saying: "I am committed to continuing the fight for this very necessary project because it is not 'if there is another storm but when,'" Weber wrote in a Galveston County Daily News op-ed. "The Ike Dike will not only protect our community and the state of Texas from another disaster but the entire nation's fuel supply."
Of note: Both Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn have supported the project since its initial proposal.
Meanwhile, the Ike Dike project received part of the $550 million allocated by the state Legislature to storm protection projects this past session, per the Houston Chronicle.
State of play: Southeast Texas has so far been spared this hurricane season, which lasts through the end of November.