The Coastal Texas Project, also known as the Ike Dike, received $5 million in federal funding, the largest single federal investment in the project since Congress authorized the project in 2022.
The overview
The $34 billion project aims to protect Houston’s critical energy and shipping corridors from storm damage by building a system of gates and dune systems designed to mitigate storm surge, according to previous reporting by Community Impact.
According to a January news release from the Gulf Coast Protection District, the region supports:
32% of the nation’s total refining capacity60% of the nation’s aviation fuel42% of the nation’s specialty chemical feedstock80% of the nation’s military-grade fuelThe background
The 87th Texas Legislature established the GCPD in 2021, and it serves as the state sponsor for the project, according to the release.
Although the project was authorized in 2022, funding has been slow to come in, and the $5 million marks the largest single federal investment to date, according to the release.
The funding was authorized when the U.S. House and Senate passed the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2025-26, which included $10.4 billion in other funding for projects led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which heads the Coastal Texas Project.
To date, the project has received $950 million from the state and $500,000 from the USACE, according to the release.
The latest funding will support the project’s preconstruction engineering and design, according to the release.
Quote of note
“Texas is home to the largest concentration of oil and gas infrastructure in the United States, and safeguarding our coast from catastrophic storms protects every American,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in the news release.