U.S. Army Corps moves Freeport levee project to closeout after Velasco Drainage District reduces scope

Representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Velasco Drainage District updated the City Council on the status of the Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management (SDG) project and said the Freeport segment will be placed into closeout after the non-federal sponsor requested a scope reduction.

"The project has currently been on a suspension status since last April of 2024, and we are moving to finalize and closing the project," said Eddie Rigoyan, a project manager for the U.S. Army Corps, Galveston District. Rigoyan said the project originally authorized under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 allotted approximately $704,000,000 to the Freeport project and included raising about 13.1 miles of levee, constructing about 5.5 miles of flood wall and installing a navigable gate on the Dow Barge Canal. During design and stakeholder coordination, Corps staff and the non-federal sponsor agreed to minimize some of the originally authorized work; the updated plan reduced levee raising from 13.1 miles to about 8 miles and reduced flood-wall work from about 5 miles to approximately 2 miles while retaining the proposed navigable gate.

Rigoyan said the Corps is preparing a Post-Authorization Change Report (PACR) to document scope changes and is conducting a levee screening tool (an online risk-quantification tool) and a semi-quantitative risk assessment (SQRA) through levee safety oversight. The levee screening is expected in about six months and the SQRA in two to three years; both products will be made available to the non-federal sponsor and the public when complete.

"The project will not be deauthorized," Rigoyan said, but he added the Corps will close out the current authorization at the request of the Velasco Drainage District (VDD). He said if VDD or another sponsor wishes to restart or extend work, they would need to negotiate a new partnership agreement and compete for funding in future Corps programming.

David Youngblood, assistant superintendent for Velasco Drainage District, told council the VDD is proceeding with targeted improvements the district can fund and complete. VDD has increased pumping station capacity at the East Levee pump station from 1,240,000 gallons per minute to a planned 2,050,000 gpm by adding engines and pumps, continued an eight-year engine-replacement program to address aging equipment and raised roughly 1.37 miles of the Oyster Creek levee and completed partial raises at the North Barge Canal area.

Youngblood said the primary reason VDD stepped back from the full, authorized federal scope was that the original project feasibility and cost were not economically reasonable for local taxpayers. He told council that the non-federal share would have been approximately 35% of the original project estimate and that, in early estimates, VDD's 35% match could have been about $249,000,000 (figure provided as an historical estimate tied to the project's original cost basis).

Council members asked whether closing out the Freeport segment would affect the Corps' willingness to work with local sponsors on other projects; Rigoyan said it would not preclude future Corps work but any new project would require a new study and funding competition. The Corps and VDD agreed to continue public communications through story maps and the Corps' website and to provide status updates to affected municipalities.

No formal council action was taken; the presentations were informational and the Corps and VDD representatives said they would return with updates and public materials when available.