The Big Ike and the Big Bill - 250

Galveston is a city of 53,695 people built on a large sand spit 49 miles downstream from Houston. This area contains the largest concentration of oil refineries in the country with 4,600 tanks used to store oil and oil products. Galveston Bay between Houston and Galveston is heavily polluted.

Galveston Texas is the center of one of the larger projects conceived by man called the Ike Dike, named after the devastating hurricane. It is the third iteration of man contrived seawalls for Galveston.

The city, being located on a barrier island, which is just a large sandy spit of land, is vulnerable to whatever meteorological event is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico.

The first hurricane the Gulf threw at Galveston was in 1900. In terms of lives lost, it was the most destructive hurricane in US history with over 8000 souls lost.

The city was rebuilt by raising it and building a greater seawall. The seawall, though, was no match for Ike which hit in 2008.  It was so destructive the name has been retired from the list of hurricane names. 74 people died and there was $37.5 billion in damages.

Galveston is 0 for 2 against hurricanes. Now engineers are ready to start with a third dike iteration. The only hurdle is funding.

The Army Corp of Engineers has completed a plan to build 43 miles of Seawall with enormous gates to let ocean oil tankers in and out from Houston. Houston has the largest concentration of oil refineries in the United States. Thus, the real motive to build a 43-mile seawall is not necessarily to save Galveston, but to protect the refineries.

The main challenge to the engineers is the fact the Gulf is warming which causes it to expand. Engineers are challenged to look, not to historical records for weather data, but to climate scientists to foresee if seawall #3 will work. The climate scientists are predicting an unsettling scenario.   

Mountain glaciers are melting. The giant Greenland Ice Cap is thawing. The glaciers holding back the massive ice caps of Antarctica are being eroded at their base by warming ocean currents.  If these glaciers lose their mooring to the seafloor and begin to slide the much larger Ice caps may follow.

According to NASA, since 1993 the oceans have risen 4 inches and most of this rise is due to thermal expansion. Since the big melt is accelerating, NOAA says they could rise 15 inches by 2100.

Additionally, and worse yet, hurricanes will have more fuel to grow bigger and wetter as the oceans warm. According to Kevin Trenberth at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, NCAR, the earth’s atmosphere holds 7% more moisture than before we started burning fossil fuels. Warm oceans evaporate more water. There is not only a lot more atmospheric water, but the water is in a vapor state. When water vapor condenses to rain, each gram of H2O releases 540 calories of heat. This energy supercharges hurricanes so Galveston is assured it will eventually be hit by stronger and wetter hurricanes.

The bottom-line cause of the storm problems Galveston and the Gulf Coast must contend with is we are burning way too much fossil fluids like gas and oil in the 4,600 tanks at the north end of Galveston Bay. Burnt oil and gas release vast quantities of carbon dioxide trapping the sun’s heat warming the planet, expanding oceans, and supercharging storms.

Coastal cities around the world are coming to grips with the challenge of staying dry or, I should say, kind of dry. Galveston is only one flood point. To meet the challenge dike building professionals, Dutch engineers, are in high demand worldwide. They are in the business of advising countries and cities of their options to deal with rising waters. Some cities may choose to “retreat and rebuild” while others will try to survive by building seawalls. Since Houston is the United States 4^th largest harbor and is the largest concentration of refineries in the USA, the question is not if protection will be built but how is the seawall barrier going to be paid for. The final design is in and congress has approved it but not the funding. The question moves on to, “Who will pay for it?”

Here we meet the Big Bill. The projected cost is 31 Billion dollars. This is where I get annoyed. At the moment, the US taxpayers are going to get hit with 65 to 85% of the tab. Should we have to pay anything? If you have read my last columns, you know the oil and gas Industry’s own scientists knew and advised top oil company officials in the 1970s that burning their product would overheat the planet and oceans would rise. Big Oil knew full well of the consequences no later than the 70s but hid their findings.

Later, when academic and government scientists proved the earth was warming due to burning fossil fuels, the oil companies funded public opinion manipulators to undermine and cast doubt on their work.

These oil companies bear responsibility for the climate crisis we are forced to deal with. The fact they want us to shoulder any of the costs to save their refineries is an insult on top of injury.

Can Big Oil afford to pay the Big Bill to build the Ike Dike? One of the oil giants, Exxon-Mobil, just released their earnings for 2022. Their profits were 56 billion dollars.

They reaped these record profits of 56 billion dollars by raising gas prices while we were suffering from inflation and while the world was trying to keep oil prices low to cut Putin’s oil profit machine which funds his war against the Ukrainian people.

Oil companies and corporations are not, by nature or law, loyal to any democracy, people, or country. They are created to make money. This is why we have governments to identify and rein in abuses and protect its citizens.

To pay for the Ike Dike, congress has a few logical choices. Congress could enact a windfall profits tax and use these ill-gotten profits to build the dike. Better yet, congress could apply a fee on carbon pollution to fund climate adaptation strategies.  A fee would create a continuous stream of funds to meet the climate emergencies certain to come.

I find it ironic the first beneficiary for big climate adaptation will be the entity most responsible for the climate mess we are in, Big Oil.

Congress has approved the Army Corp of Engineers plan but they have not funded the project. If we want the businesses who are responsible for the climate disasters unfolding; those who have profited off us; if we expect them to pay up rather than us, then we had better let our congress members know.

It is time to call.  

References:

NASA  “Rising Waters”

Science Magazine  Nov 17^th, 2022 “Shelter From the Storm”

Houston Public Media  10 Sep 2021 “Army Corp Release Final $29 Billion “Ike Dike” Study for Congressional Approval.