WASHINGTON –U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) released the following statement after the Senate passed his provision to authorize the construction of the coastal barrier protection system known as the Coastal Spine as part of the Water Resources Development Act: 

“Protecting the Texas coast from devastating hurricanes is a top priority when it comes to preserving the livelihoods of Texans and ensuring the massive amount of international trade that relies on our state can resume after a storm,” said Sen. Cornyn. “By authorizing the Coastal Spine, we are one step closer to ensuring Texas has the storm mitigation components it needs to be as prepared as possible for future hurricane seasons.”

Background:

The Coastal Spine is a large-scale coastal storm risk management and ecosystem restoration project that will help protect Texas’s coast from storm damage. The passage of these provisions in the Water Resources Development Act follows the introduction of standalone legislation on this from Senators Cornyn and Cruz and Representative Randy Weber (TX-14) earlier this week.

Last year, Sen. Cornyn praised the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief’s Report signing of the Coastal Texas Study making the project eligible to be authorized by Congress in the upcoming Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA). In Congress, Sen. Cornyn secured full funding in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 to ensure the completion of this study. Sen. Cornyn introduced legislation to accelerate the study and worked to obtain a critical exemption from statutory costs and time limitations. Last fall, Sen. Cornyn penned an op-ed discussing current coastal Texas projects and the steps to authorize and fund them.