Houston Chronicle: The Ike Dike would make pollution worse

Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle Staff photographer

Regarding “Houston Chronicle: John Cornyn: Houston needs the Coastal Texas Project,” (Dec. 05): Senator John Cornyn is pushing lawmakers to fund the $34 billion Coastal Texas Project, commonly known as the Ike Dike, to “build a coastal storm barrier to protect at-risk petrochemical infrastructure and the Texas Gulf Coast.” But it's this same industry that makes disasters like storms and hurricanes worse. Instead of requiring the petrochemical industry to pay to protect their own plants — and protect the people who have lived here long before industry moved in — Sen. Cornyn offers up our tax dollars. Meanwhile, the petrochemical industry is trying to build more facilities in areas they know to be prone to hurricanes and flooding while gobbling up monumental tax breaks from state and local governments.

Our communities see again and again how neighboring petrochemical facilities can take a hurricane disaster from bad to worse. From 2005-2020, pollution releases doubled, and often tripled, during Gulf hurricanes, and recovery costs climbed upwards of $200 billion. In 2017, over 8 million pounds of excess pollution was released during Hurricane Harvey — on top of the devastation to homes, neighborhoods and lives. 

Economic studies across Greater Houston, Brazoria County, Greater Corpus Christi and Calhoun County revealed that top polluters like ExxonMobil, Freeport LNG, Occidental Petroleum and more received a collective $5.6 billion in tax benefits since 2022. Billions of dollars that should go to our schools, hospitals, and legitimate community resilience. 

We deserve real preparedness and protection — not a coastal boondoggle.

Shiv Srivastava, Policy Director, Fenceline Watch, Houston