Op-Ed: Coalter Baker: Jamaica’s disaster could have happened here. President Trump is the only one who can protect the Texas Energy Metroplex from the next Category 5 hurricane
Coalter Baker explains how President Donald Trump's energy agenda can help Texas.
Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica as a historic Category 5 storm with 185 mph winds. It was the strongest hurricane ever to hit the island, causing catastrophic damage. At least 19 people have died, and thousands remain in shelters amid widespread infrastructure collapse and communication blackouts. The storm’s slow pace brought rainfall rivaling Hurricane Harvey, raising alarms about the potential for similar devastation along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
President Donald Trump recently renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, and now his own Gulf of America coastline needs help to prevent the next Hurricane Melissa or Hurricane Katrina from striking. If a hurricane of Melissa’s strength came through the Port of Houston, we would take a direct hit in the heart of our nation’s oil and gas energy metroplex. Damages and economic losses from a hit like Melissa could climb into the multi-billions of dollars within days.
Most people don’t know that 80 percent of the nation’s military-grade fuel, 30 percent of the nation’s gasoline, and a quarter of the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve are all right here off the coast of Houston. Our ship channel generates almost $1 trillion in economic benefits and supports 3.4 million jobs.
Yet, our current storm protection along the Gulf of America coastline outside Houston has not been updated in decades and are now in need of a century-strong overhaul.
The State of Texas has already funded nearly $1 billion toward the coastal Texas protection because state leaders know how badly America needs a new, better way to protect critical national assets and the communities of hard-working Americans who keep our nation’s engine running.
Everything is bigger in Texas, and that is why The Gate — part of a $35 billion coastal storm protection project — is the largest U.S. Army Corps project in our nation’s history. Where we have a MEGA project, we need a MAGA leader. That is why we know only President Trump and his record of cutting red tape and getting things done on record timelines (remember Operation Warp Speed?) is the only way we can build The Gate to protect our coast from a Hurricane Melissa or other Category 5 storm.
In fact, President Vladimir Putin built a smaller coastal protection system in St. Petersburg, Russia where construction took a mere six years. If anyone could build the world’s largest coastal storm risk management project in record time, it’s this administration.
I worked with President Trump during his first term. I know he does not let bureaucracy or precedent stop him. When we look at Jamaica and we see the very real effects of what could have happened right here on the Gulf of America coastline, it is clear that the Gate Can’t Wait.
We are so happy to have a president who can get things done, push the Army Corps of Engineers, and prioritize safeguarding the coastlines and communities that are the backbone of the Trump administration’s “Drill Baby, Drill” policies.
With President Trump at our side, we can use his record-breaking speed to build this record-breaking coastal protection project. We will keep America’s energy source safe with The Gate because energy security is national security.
Coalter Baker is the Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Protection District (GCPD). During President Donald Trump’s first term in office, Baker served in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Prior to that, Baker served on President Trump’s presidential campaign in Arizona. He now advocates for funding the GCPD, which would be the largest ever Army Corps of Engineers project once completed — totaling over $35 billion in state and federal funds.