Ike Dike finally gets some federal funding

Texas' storm coastal barrier project, dubbed the Ike Dike , has received its first installment of federal funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Why it matters: The Ike Dike, nicknamed after the 2008 hurricane that left more than 70 dead in Texas and caused more than $30 billion in damage in the U.S., has had slow progress despite receiving congressional approval in 2022.

• The long-awaited Ike Dike aims to protect the Houston-Galveston region from hurricane storm surge.

Driving the news: The Corps of Engineers announced last week that it had allocated $500,000 to begin the design process and engineering to "prepare the project for construction," per the Gulf Coast Protection District .

Reality check: $500,000 is a small dent in the projected $34.4 billion Coastal Texas Program — one of the largest projects in the history of the corps.

• The corps has since indicated that inflation could push project costs to $57 billion .
• Additionally, the corps expects the project could take nearly another 20 years to complete, particularly if the funding continues to come in small increments, the Houston Business Journal reports .

State of play: The funding announcement comes just before the start of hurricane season, which is expected to be " extremely active ."

What they're saying: "Projects of this scale and magnitude require ongoing funding and long-term partner collaboration, but we cannot discount the critical importance [of] quickly moving forward with the design and construction of initial segments of this transformational project," said Gulf Coast Protection District President Michel Bechtel.

• "It is imperative that we get the Coastal Texas Project completed as soon as possible, ideally before the next big storm comes barreling at the upper Texas Gulf Coast, and this is a great step in the right direction," said U.S. Rep. Randy Weber, R-Pearland.

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