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Dr. Bill Merrill

Regents Professor Emeritus, Texas A&M University · 1 appearance on the record.

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academicscientistexecutivetamug.edu/ikedike ↗

Following 2008's Hurricane Ike, Merrell conceived and spearheaded the Ike Dike, a proposed coastal storm surge barrier protecting the Houston-Galveston region. An oceanographer and former president of Texas A&M University at Galveston, he also served as Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation and president of The Heinz Center.

8statements → 6claims → 4claims resolved → 75%fully supported → 3.75/5average certainty → 1.88/5average debate potential →

3 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 2 not checkable as stated how the 6 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 4 assertions · 2 insights · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 6 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Dr. argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Army Corps natural dunes will fail against storms stronger than Ike
“The Army Corps' natural dunes would only protect you for to about an Ike-like storm. Nothing stronger. So they would be wiped out. And then if another storm comes, and we've had up to three storms in a season come near us, so, you know, we could be hit again a…”
Dr. Bill Merrill Nov 9, 2022 ▶ 22:39 The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history

Everything Dr. Bill Merrill said on the Green Blueprint that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Supported
Army Corps natural dunes will fail against storms stronger than Ike
“The Army Corps' natural dunes would only protect you for to about an Ike-like storm. Nothing stronger. So they would be wiped out. And then if another storm comes, and we've had up to three storms in a season come near us, so, you know, we could be hit again a…”
Dr. Bill Merrill Nov 9, 2022 ▶ 22:39 The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history
Insight
Targeting 100-year storm protection is sufficient to avert total coastal catastrophe
“If we get a hundred years, We can prevent a catastrophe. We may not be able to prevent a disaster, but we can prevent the really nasty situations where people are isolated for weeks and just terrible things happen. So, we can prevent that with a lower level of…”
Dr. Bill Merrill Nov 9, 2022 ▶ 31:42 The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history
Insight
Mega flood gates require massive scale rather than complex engineering
“It's big engineering. It's not particularly hard engineering, but it is big engineering”
Dr. Bill Merrill Nov 9, 2022 ▶ 19:51 The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Merrill predicts US will not fund 1,000-year storm protection in his lifetime
“Not in my lifetime, would be my guess. I just think it's gonna, that would cost too much money. But I think what you're gonna see is as sea level rises, The threats become worse and worse. We're going to have enough trouble just keeping that a hundred year pro…”
Dr. Bill Merrill Nov 9, 2022 ▶ 24:49 The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Engineered coastal protections will become standard as rapid intensification prevents evacuation
“I think you're going to see more and more of these types of projects come in as sea level continues to arise and hurricanes become harder to deal with. They seem to, they're definitely intensifying faster, so it's harder to evacuate. That only leaves protectio…”
Dr. Bill Merrill Nov 9, 2022 ▶ 29:22 The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history
Assertion Supported
Ike Dike will span over 60 miles of dunes and sea gates
“Gonna be a sixty-plus mile, mile-long structure. A lot of the, a lot of it'll look totally natural. We'll either have fortified dunes, or the Corps proposed to put natural dunes in. But then the gates will be the thing that will really stand out.”
Dr. Bill Merrill Nov 9, 2022 ▶ 16:04 The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history
Assertion Supported
Rotterdam storm surge barrier gates match the Eiffel Tower in size
“The Rotterham gates are the side, both gates are the size of the Eiffel Tower on its side, to give you, it's, they're monsters.”
Dr. Bill Merrill Nov 9, 2022 ▶ 18:21 The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history
Assertion Partly supported
Dutch flood infrastructure protects Rotterdam against 10,000-year storms
“The upper part around Rotterdam's protected a 10,000 year storm. The lower area, the more agricultural area, is protected to a 3000 year storm.”
Dr. Bill Merrill Nov 9, 2022 ▶ 23:15 The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
The Ike Dike: the biggest civil engineering project in US history Nov 9, 2022 9m
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