Finish the Promise to Orange County: Why the Orange County Hurricane Levee Project Must Be Built Now
By: Orange County Judge John Gothia
In 2008, Orange County was devastated by Hurricane Ike, which resulted in a hurricane storm surge that flooded all of Bridge City, significant parts of the Cities of Orange, West Orange and Pinehurst, and a large portion of Orange County. This storm, which also flooded the City of Galveston, Boliver Peninsula and other areas along the upper Gulf Coast, did not flood the City of Port Arthur. The reason — Port Arthur was protected by a hurricane levee system.
The wide-spread damage to homes, businesses and important infrastructure caused by Hurricane Ike ultimately resulted in the study and federal authorization of the Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management Project. In addition to including the improvement of the Port Arthur Levee System, the Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay Project includes the design and construction of the Orange County Coastal Storm Risk Management project. This federal authorization occurred in 2018, and in the same year, Congress also appropriated the funds to design and construct the Orange County Project by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It has been eight years since the Orange County Project was federally authorized and appropriated. However, even though the State of Texas created the Gulf Coast Protection District to serve as the non-federal sponsor for the project, and further appropriated significant state funds for moving forward with the project, the Orange County project is stuck in the early design phase, and there has been no construction of any part of the project. For a project of this importance and urgency, that timeline is deeply concerning.
In 2020, two years after the federal authorization for the design and construction of the Orange County project, Orange County was miraculously spared from what could have been an even worse storm surge event, when Hurricane Laura veered east during the last hours before landfall, thereby decimating the City of Lake Charles and other parts of southwest Louisiana. Following Hurricane Laura, President Donald Trump came to Orange County — not just to survey damage, but to make a clear promise: the federal government would help protect our community from future storms. During his visit to Orange, I discussed with him and Governor Abbott the importance of the Orange County levee and floodwall project and the need to protect Orange County from future storm surge events. When U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leaders explained that the project would include roughly 25 miles of levees, floodwalls, pump stations, and floodgates, President Trump pressed them directly, asking, “So that’ll stop the water from pouring in?” When the Corps replied that they were confident it would, President Trump responded decisively: “If you guys do it, it’s going to work”.
The President expressed strong support for helping Southeast Texas recover and emphasized the federal government’s commitment to assisting the region. This exchange matters. It was not abstract talk about studies or distant plans; it was a commitment, made on the ground in Orange County, to a system specifically designed to shield tens of thousands of residents, critical energy infrastructure, and the regional economy from storm surge. The Corps further confirmed that Congress, with bipartisan support, had already directed billions of dollars to move components of the Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay Project forward, with completion targeted before the end of the decade. Here we are six years later. We should be planning a celebration event marking milestones of this important project. Instead, we’re still years away from breaking ground as red tape has plagued the design efforts.
Orange County is not asking for special treatment. It is asking for what federal leaders — including President Trump himself—recognized in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and Hurricane Laura: that protecting this corner of Southeast Texas is a national priority. The Sabine Pass corridor is home to refineries, petrochemical manufacturers, ports, pipelines, and power infrastructure that fuel the American economy. When storms knock these assets offline, the effects ripple far beyond county lines. Orange County cannot afford for that to happen again. Hurricanes are not waiting. Each season brings renewed risk, and each near miss is a warning, not a guarantee. As we face another hurricane season and the uncertainty that comes with it, now is the moment to translate that promise into permanent protection.
We are grateful for President Trump. He has our trust and we are confident that this administration will be able to accelerate completion of the necessary preconstruction engineering and design required to enable the movement of dirt as soon as all approvals are finalized in 2027, and thereby begin construction of this project that will provide protection of Orange County from storm surge events. I’m calling on our federal leaders and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to finish the design and construct the Orange County element of the Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay project. It will save lives, reduce future disaster costs, and provide certainty for families and employers who want to stay and invest in Southeast Texas. Every dollar spent on mitigation today avoids many more in recovery tomorrow—a lesson learned repeatedly along the Gulf Coast.
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