WASHINGTON—The Great Lakes $115 billion project to keep invasive carp from entering the Great Lakes has been delayed by the Illinois state governor due to the uncertainty of federal funding under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“We don’t think that any delay is a good thing to stop invasive carp,” Don Jodrey, director of federal relations with the Alliance For The Great Lakes said last week, when the governor of Illinois halted the Joliet Great Lakes carp program until US President Trump promises not to remove US federal funds for the project. The project is designed to stop the movement of invasive carp up Illinois waterways and into Lake Michigan.
“To cause a delay is not beneficial to anyone, to stop the migration of invasive carp in the Great Lakes,” said Mr. Jodrey. He explained, the state of Illinois has delayed the construction of barriers at Joliet, Illinois (Brandon Road Lock) for 90 days to see if the US federal government will uphold its financial commitments to the state, by not withholding funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Mr. Jodrey feels that he doesn’t think the US federal funds for the project are going to be affected.
Governor JB Pritzker indicated the uncertainty of federal funding under President Donald Trump’s administration led to his announcement last week to delay the massive project.
Governor Pritzker said in a statement that the Trump government, “has shown it cannot be trusted to legally uphold its financial commitments to the state of Illinois,” by withholding funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“I have a responsibility to protect Illinois taxpayers,” said Governor Pritzker. “If the federal government does not live up to its obligations, Illinois could unfairly suffer the burden of hundreds of millions of dollars of liability. We cannot move forward until the Trump administration provides more certainty and clarity on whether they will follow the law and deliver infrastructure funds we were promised.”
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that according to Governor Pritzker’s office, the Trump Administration has already withheld $117 million in federal grants to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Natalie Phelps Finnie, director of the Illinois DNR said in a letter dated February 10 to colonel Aaron Williams, commander, Rock Island District of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), “I write regarding the Project Partnership Agreement for the Brandon Road, Will County, Illinois Project for Ecosystem Restoration to Control Aquatic Nuisance Species (“Brandon Road Project”) between the (USACE) and the State of Illinois. Please be advised that Illinois is postponing the February 11, 2025, property rights closing for increment 1 of this project based on the anticipated lack of federal funding for the Brandon Road Project.”
Ms. Phelps Finnie continued, “This correspondence supersedes the January 28, 2025 letter to the Corps from the Illinois (DNR) providing assurances for obtaining initial riverbed property rights by February 11. The Illinois (DNR) will be requesting a potential May 2025 closing to allow Illinois to receive written assurances of federal funding.”
“The Trump administration’s lack of clarity and commitment to delivering funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to the Illinois (DNR) leaves the state to anticipate a lack of federal funding for the Brandon Road Project,” continued Ms. Phelps Finnie. This project “is an extremely important project to protect the ecosystem and economy of the entire Great Lakes region from invasive carp and the economic and environmental damage that this would cause. We stand ready to move forward if the administration provides the certainty to fund this critical project.”
As has been reported previously the project in the Des Plaines River near Joliet is seen as a vital way to stop invasive carp from entering the Great Lakes. Without barriers, carp could potentially wipe out the $20 billion fishing and boating industries and upend the freshwater economy. The species has already made it into the Illinois River from the Mississippi River.
About $274 million in US federal funding was allocated to the project, and Illinois and Michigan have both committed a combined $114 million, the Sun-Times reported. A partnership agreement was signed last year with the US Army Corps of Engineers to move forward with construction.
The Des Plaines River at Brandon Road had been identified as a critical pinch point, where experts hope layered technologies will deter the upstream movement of silver and bighead carp, currently only held back by unreliable electrical barriers near Romeoville, Illinois, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Weekday closures to facilitate construction at the lock and dam had started January 28 and were to continue through March 25 to coincide with the upstream closure of Lockport Lock and thus minimize impacts to navigation.
There are three phases to the project. Along with site preparation, the initial construction phase includes the installation of some multi-layered technologies at the lock and dam, such as 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 Tribune explained. The second and third phases include an electric barrier and more acoustic deterrents. At the end, a flushing lock will send any remaining larval fish and eggs back downstream.
