Water Resources Development Act also reduces state cost-share, allows for new technologies
National Wildlife Federation, July 21, 2020
ANN ARBOR, MICH.— The Brandon Road project, included in the Water Resources Development Act that passed out of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week, will help stop Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. The project also reduced the local cost share requirement of the project from 35% to 20%, easing the financial burden on the state of Illinois.
In addition, the bill allows for new technologies to be considered in the project thus providing more flexibility for potentially even more effective control options to be added in the future. The bill now heads to the full House for approval and eventual negotiations with the Senate’s version, which also approved the Brandon Road project.
“Invasive Asian carp are a national problem to our nation’s waters, fisheries, and way of life. The Brandon Road project is the best opportunity we have to keep them from invading the Great Lakes and spreading to countless new waters, while simultaneously putting people to work building the new lock and dam.” said Marc Smith, policy director for the National Wildlife Federation. “The design of the engineered channel includes multiple carp deterrent technologies and the inclusion of new technologies could increase the effectiveness of the design while potentially reducing costs as more efficient technologies are developed. We thank the bipartisan members of Congress for their diligence in finding national solutions to stop invasive Asian carp.”