DETROIT (WHTC-AM/FM, Apr. 14, 2026) – There apparently has been enough foot dragging on the effort to keep the Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes.
That’s the message sent from the Trump Administration as, on Monday, the US Army Corps of Engineers office in Detroit announced a second contract for the Brandon Road Interbasin Project near Joliet, Illinois. The nearly $114 million deal with JF Brennan Company of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, completing the remainder of the initiative’s Increment I effort, will include an automated barge clearing deterrent, bubble curtain deterrent, acoustic deterrent, leading-edge support facilities, and an upstream boat ramp. The first effort was completed last July.
This comes after the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Adam Telle, released a statement last week, saying that the project and its management is being moved out of Illinois and into Michigan, claiming unreliability and delinquency on payments and real estate commitments.
State lawmakers, such as House Republican Nancy DeBoer of Holland, welcome these moves as concerns over this invasive species overwhelming the Great Lakes ecosystem have been lingering for many years.
The White House has been at odds with the administration of Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker for nearly a year over state concerns that Washington would not back up Illinois’ purchasing land for the three-layered deterrent project.
Comments