The Central Spine (“Ike Dike”) has problems.  There is a whole lot more wrong with this storm surge proposal than what the public has been told.

For instance, the damage to the San Luis Pass area, probably the last, most natural fish pass left on the Upper Texas Coast, if not the entire Texas Coast, has been ignored.  The San Luis Pass area will be walled in, out, or through by the Central Spine which will seriously affect this fishing, beach combing, recreational, and ecological gem.

The incredibly massive and expensive Central Spine threatens water circulation, movement of fish and shrimp, sediment placement, erosion locations, and salinity levels.  The Central Spine is designed to allow 60 foot deep ships into Galveston Bay which could reignite the battle between those who want to protect Galveston Bay and those who see only money.

With the Central Spine, storm surge in Galveston Bay will still blast many communities with 12 to 15 feet of water.  Putting additional dikes in the middle of Galveston Bay will fragment and alter natural fish and shrimp migration through Bolivar Roads and the rest of Galveston Bay.  

Senator John Cornyn has introduced legislation, S. 2856, which speeds up the process to analyze environmental, social, and economic problems for this proposal.  Cornyn's bill will allow the Central Spine to slip past the full scrutiny that the Corps of Engineers normally gives each proposal for scarce federal tax dollars.  This is the very scrutiny citizens expect for a proposal that Bill King described described in his Houston Chronicle OP-Ed on June 3, 2016 as “complicated and costly”.

Our entire region is not protected by the Central Spine.  Additional costs for protection of the Clear Lake Area, City of Galveston “ring dike”, and full environmental mitigation (because the environmental impacts have not been analyzed completely) have not been added into the cost of the Central Spine.  The over $6 billion Central Spine will not only drain money from our local, state, and federal treasuries but will significantly damage Galveston Bay.  Leaders like King, refuse to accept this and have ignored alternatives that keep people out of harm's way.  

Planned withdrawal in places that are too vulnerable and expensive to protect; use of a multi-governmental levee district to protect the Houston Ship Channel; acquisition, protection, and restoration of dunes, marshes, barrier islands, and other natural storm surge protection features; and a real geohazards regulatory program for coastal development are alternatives that could be pooled together to protect or keep people out of harm's way.  

Yes, there is more than meets the eye about the Central Spine.  The full damage and degradation of Galveston Bay has not been factored into the costs of the Central Spine.  The public has not been informed about this and has been misled.  This is not good public policy.  This is public policy for “insiders only”.  The Central Spine is not a consensus alternative.  It is the “insider's” alternative.

Brandt Mannchen

July 3, 2016