Texas, Our Texas! all hail the mighty State!

Jim Blackburn, environmental attorney from Houston and one of the original guiding lights for the conservation of our bays and coasts, writes an annual coastal update that he distributes in January. I have placed his latest on the One Galveston file server, and it can be accessed here.

John Anderson has written a thoughtful response to the questions raised by Jim, and he has graciously allowed for me to publish his letter, as follows.

Jim

Thanks for taking the time to do the Coastal Update. I always enjoy reading it.

With regard to your question concerning the State’s stewardship of the coast, I agree with Bob Moore, the answer is NO. As a long time researcher in Texas coastal geology, let me focus my remarks on a major problem with scientific research. I apologize if it reads like I have an ax to grind, it is not intended to come of that way, but rather to convey a problem in the way we do coastal science in Texas.

If you take a look at published results (peer-reviewed is the only true gauge of high level research in my opinion as it has passed the scrutiny of experts in the field) from scientific research along the Texas coast you will see that Texas lags behind many states, such as Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina and New Jersey, even though we have a lot of coastal real estate and one of the more interesting coasts in the world for investigation of coastal processes. Ours is also the second most vulnerable coast (Louisiana being first) to sea-level rise, subsidence and limited sediment supply. Why then is Texas not a leader in coastal research?

For decades the State of Texas has provided a minimal amount of funding for coastal research. We have done a good job of monitoring coastal erosion and that is important, but it is not science. We know our coast is eroding rapidly, both on the Gulf and Bay side of barriers, but we do not know why, how erosion will vary as the rate of sea-level rise increases, or how we might best minimize these impacts. There is an emerging scientific consensus that tropical storm frequency and magnitude will increase this century but how will that impact our coast? To what extent have humans altered sediment supply and distribution along the coast and in estuaries? These are only a few questions that require immediate attention if we are going to sustain our coast for future generations.

The State spends millions of dollars a year dumping truck loads of sand on beaches, only to have it wash away with the tides. This is unthinkable and reflects the total lack of understanding of the problem by Mr. Patterson and his people. The money spent on such projects would fund a lot of good research on wetlands ecology, sediment transport and other fields. You may not know that the only source of state funding for academic research requires that the grantee be at a State-supported university. This prevents researchers from other states and private universities (yes Rice included) from applying for state grants to work in Texas. The reality is there are relatively few scientists at state universities doing coastal research. The response from Mr. Patterson might be that various state agencies do our research, but if you count the publications over the past ten years from these agencies the number is deplorable given the amount of money that is spent, and most of that work has been done by a handful of good scientists who have somehow managed to prevail under difficult conditions. I have trained some outstanding young coastal geologists in my career who have gone on to universities in other states. They continue to be very active in the field, but not in Texas. So, we train the talent we need, they just can’t work in Texas. The final result is that our knowledge of coastal processes, such as tidal inlet dynamics, wetlands growth and development and sand transport within the coastal zone is limited, certainly no where near what it should be for us to answer questions about how our coast will respond to global change.

One might ask, so why not go to NSF or some other funding agency? This is what we have done in the past, but the reality is that NSF views coastal research at the regional scale as something the states should be supporting and most states do fund coastal research. I am not aware of another state that so discourages coastal scientists from from doing research in their state.

Jerry Patterson has his Coastal Coordinating Board, but that body is seriously deficient in scientific expertise. Most are political appointees, which is consistent with Mr. Patterson’s way of doing business. Meanwhile, our coast continues to change at a rate that astounds us all and we really don’t understand what is happening or what to do about it. We need more scientific understanding of our coast if we are going to protect it in the future, but I am not sure how the needed research is going to be done unless we encourage scientists to cross our borders.

John

John Anderson

Maurice Ewing Professor of Oceanography Department of Earth Sciences

Rice University Houston, Texas 77251-1892

Within my field, sustainable tourism and recreation, I am afraid the the same is true. The best work is being done outside of Texas, with rare exceptions such as Corpus Christi. Those who choose this profession, by necessity, are forced to work elsewhere (me being a perfect example). Given the situation that Galveston faces, one would expect sustainable recreation, tourism, and community development to be helping shape the future of our resurrected community. In my opinion, this is simply not the case. Allowed to their own devices, community interests will focus on patching Galveston back together in the same pathetically vulnerable condition that existed pre-Ike. I can only pray that there are enough of us on the island that can help direct Galveston’s future toward sustainability. The Long-Term Community Recovery Committee, under the leadership of Betty Massey, is, I hope, a step in the right direction. But what I still fail to see is the passionate, daring leadership willing to take hold of this situation and shake it into shape.

Time is passing, and we are still worried about who is winding the clock.

Ted Eubanks