Latest news with #BrandonRoadProject
E&E News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Trump promises funding for $1.15B Great Lakes fish barrier
After months of uncertainty, the Trump administration has committed to funding a $1.15 billion project to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday directing federal agencies to proceed 'expeditiously' with infrastructure designed to deter the nuisance fish, affirming support for the Brandon Road Interbasin Project that has been under development for the past decade. The carp have wreaked havoc in parts of the Mississippi River and its tributaries and have slowly made their way upstream toward the Great Lakes. Advertisement Scientists and local officials say the fast-breeding carp would upend the ecology and commercial fisheries of the lakes, which hold roughly 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Taking aim at Illinois, Trump says he'll prioritize stopping invasive carp
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a memo telling his administration to prioritize efforts to keep invasive carp out of the Great Lakes and calling on Illinois to keep working on a key part of that effort. The Republican president's memo directs the administration to 'achieve maximum speed and efficiency' in stopping the fish. 'This includes supporting the Brandon Road Interbasin Project, through deadline-oriented investments of taxpayer dollars, to ensure the State of Illinois does not stand in the way of its construction,' the memo reads. Illinois presses pause on 'critical' invasive carp project, cites federal funding concerns Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office says she raised the issue of the Brandon Road project in Illinois with the president when she met him in the Oval Office weeks ago. She praised Trump's memo, stressing the importance of the project. 'After years of advocacy alongside our partners in Illinois and together with a wide range of stakeholders at the local, state, and federal levels, we now have renewed assurances from the Administration to move forward expeditiously on the Brandon Road Interbasin Project,' Whitmer, a Democrat, said in a Friday statement. 'I am grateful to the President for his commitment. In the works for more than a decade, the goal of the Brandon Road project is to implement renovations to an existing lock and dam to keep invasive carp from moving from the Chicago Area Waterway System into the Great Lakes. The hungry invasive fish are capable of doing significant damage to local ecosystems because they eat up the food source of native species. That would harm fishing and tourism industries. 'That's why I went to Washington, DC to advocate for this project face-to-face with the President at the White House. I am grateful that, in the midst of a lot of change at the federal level, he is confirming that our federal partners are as committed as ever to getting this done,' Whitmer stated. 'Michigan continues to win because we show up, talk to anyone, and work together to get things done.' The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is leading the Brandon Road project and most of it is expected to be funded by the feds, with some $274 million already allocated. Michigan has promised $64 million and Illinois $50 million. First construction contract awarded on long-awaited $1.1 billion invasive carp project But earlier this year, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, hit pause on his state's part of the project. The Detroit News reported he cited concerns about federal funding, saying the Trump administration had frozen about $117 million in grants to his state's department of natural resources. Trump's memo called on Illinois to get back on board. 'The Federal Government is prepared to do its part, but the States where preventative measures can be taken must cooperate,' the memo reads in part. 'The State of Illinois, where the Brandon Road Interbasin Project is located, must cease further delay in cooperating with this effort, for the sake of its own citizens and economy and for the sake of all of the Great Lakes States.' The memo went on to say Illinois should start buying up the land needed for the project by July 1 and quickly grant any permits the Army Corps needs. 'Federal agency heads shall similarly streamline any permitting and environmental reviews and issue any requisite Federal permits or approvals as quickly as possible,' the memo says. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Feds say funding freed up for Great Lakes invasive carp project, though President Donald Trump and Gov. JB Pritzker still snipe at each other
President Donald Trump issued an executive order late Friday supporting an important Great Lakes project in Illinois to contain invasive carp, but the president still found a way to call out Gov. JB Pritzker, who responded by saying he was glad the White House 'heard our calls about the importance of delivering federal funds.' Trump's order and Pritzker's response mark a rare point of policy agreement between the governor and a president whose administration Pritzker has compared to Nazi Germany. Pritzker has harshly criticized Trump on an array of broad issues and has also noted that the Trump administration has held back some $2 billion in federal funds meant for Illinois. 'The State of Illinois continuously monitors access to these funds and Governor Pritzker will keep using every lever available to unlock these resources the state is owed, including how he did with the Brandon Road Infrastructure Project,' the governor's office said in a news release. Anticipating a federal funding shortfall, Illinois recently postponed construction of a project near Joliet aimed at stopping the movement of invasive carp up the state's waterways. A scheduled groundbreaking ceremony in February was canceled. In the executive order Friday, Trump referenced the stoppage at Brandon Road Lock and Dam and asked his administration 'to ensure the State of Illinois does not stand in the way of its construction.' The construction is intended to stymie the spread of invasive carp, which could pose a significant threat to the Great Lakes region's native species, ecosystems and billion-dollar fishing and boating industries. Trump blamed Pritzker by name for not allowing the project to start, while the federal government, he said, has already begun work on it. 'Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker decided to delay the State's acquisition of property, which is necessary for construction to begin,' the order said of the project. In his response, Pritzker said the Trump administration 'decided to finally meet their obligations to the State of Illinois and the Great Lakes region.' 'I have made clear that — in the interest of saving the Illinois taxpayer potentially hundreds of millions in liabilities — we would only move forward if given the proper assurances that the federal government would hold up their end of the bargain,' Pritzker said. Those assurances had been met in the Friday executive order, the governor's press release said. By February, about $340 million had been allocated for the first phase of the project. But state officials were worried about going further without assurances from the Trump administration that the state would receive the necessary funding for the next two phases. The first phase includes site preparation and installation of some multilayered technologies at the lock and dam. These technologies include a bubble barrier that removes small fish trapped under barges or carried in their wake and an acoustic deterrent that creates painful sound waves. The subsequent phases are expected to include an electric barrier and more acoustic deterrents. At the end, a flushing lock would send any remaining larval fish and eggs back downstream. At the time the project was delayed, the Trump administration was withholding $117 million in federal grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, halting 70 unrelated projects across the state, according to Pritzker's administration. Because of that uncertainty, Pritzker and IDNR Director Natalie Phelps Finnie expressed concerns about starting construction at Brandon Road. So-called Asian carp, which are invasive across the United States, include silver, bighead, grass and black carp. The fish were introduced in Arkansas in the 1960s to get rid of seaweed without using chemicals. After flooding events in the 1980s and 1990s, the carp escaped into the Mississippi River basin, spreading to 31 states. Some were also released after breeding experiments failed. Silver and bighead carp are particular threats to native species as they have no natural predators in American waterways and likely never will, meaning their populations can grow uncontrollably. The National Wildlife Federation on Friday praised the White House's reinforcement of full funding at Brandon Road, calling the project 'the most effective solution to protect the Great Lakes from invasive carp.' 'We are encouraged by the federal government's signal of renewed commitment to complete the Brandon Road Project and broader efforts to keep invasive carp out of the Great Lakes,' NWF Great Lakes policy director Marc Smith said in an emailed statement.
