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The Associated Press
A project that will boost the Great Lakes area to protect the systems from invasive carp will get big funding increases under the Biden administration's infrastructure package, officials said earlier this week.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it would pump $226 million to the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois, where plans call for the installation of obstacles to prevent invasive carp from migrating up the Illinois River to Lake Michigan.
The project has been a top priority for members of Congress from the eight states that border the Great Lakes.
The infrastructure measure, which also includes $1 billion to improve water quality, makes "the single largest investment ever in the Great Lakes," Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters of Michigan said in a statement.
The Brandon Road Lock and Dam funding will complete preconstruction, engineering and design work on upgrades to block the path of invasive carp, as well as initial construction. Electric barriers, bubble screens, noisemakers and other devices will be used.
Rivers and canals between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan are infested with carp imported from Asia in the 1960s to clear sewage lagoons and fish farms of algae and weeds.
They escaped into the Mississippi River and have spread into its tributaries and are competing with native species for food.
Scientists say an invasion of the Great Lakes would threaten its $7 billion fishing industry.
The new funding "is an historic step forward for this critically needed project to add a chain of smart technologies to the waterway that will stop invasive carp from reaching Lake Michigan," said Molly Flanagan, chief operating officer of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.