Michigan’s U.S. Senators recently sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking why it’s taking so long to finalize its plan for keeping Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes.
The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry fired off a letter of its own urging the Army Corps consider an alternative to proposed structures that could impact maritime traffic from the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes.
WGVU spoke with Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow about the delay.
“Basically the barge operators don’t want anything to be done. They argue this is not a big deal.”
Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow claims there’s a connection between Mississippi River barge operators and Vice President, Mike Pence. Stabenow says the White House delayed the release of the Army Corps of Engineers’ Brandon Road Lock and Dam report six months.
The report recommends installing structural controls including additional electrical barriers, a complex noise deterrent, water jets and a flushing lock. Estimated cost $275 million. Estimated completion date 2025.
“What’s frustrating is that the recommendations actually don’t in any way permanently bar them from moving through the river. They don’t affect commerce at all. So this is very concerning at this point. So, they have not yet completed their public hearing process before they can move forward to the next step. We are pushing, pushing, pushing. I’m going to be pulling together the Great Lakes Taskforce, which is bipartisan, to talk with them and we’re going to continue to push to light fires for them to complete this process so that we can then go to appropriators and getting funding for the things that need to be done.”
Without the completion of Army Corps of Engineers public hearings the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project along the Des Plains River can’t move forward. WGVU asked the Senator how delays will impact implementation?
“Well, first of all, once this is done and we have agreement then Congress, on a bipartisan basis, will have to agree to go forward and provide funding to do what needs to be done. And so, the soonest that would happen would be next year to be able to get appropriations and then it will take several years before it’s completely in place. So, in my opinion, we’re on borrowed time. These fish are not stopping and waiting for something to get done. We’ve been fortunate with the temporary things that we’ve done to hold the fish back but we do know that we’ve seen at least one large carp just nine miles from Lake Michigan a while back. So, in my mind we’re on borrowed time. We need to move as quickly as possible and unfortunately after all the steps, and the slowness of the Army Corps of Engineers, and they do a great job, but they are just in this case, just unbelievably slow in giving us what we need. Now we’re at a point where we have a small group of special interests that seem to have ties to the White House that are now coming in and slowing this down again.”
The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry notes the importance of maritime traffic to Louisiana's economy and says thorough studies are needed on the cost effectiveness of structural controls.
Patrick Center, WGVU News.