TRAVERSE CITY,
Mich. (AP) - Illinois has proposed negotiations with federal officials and
other states in the Great Lakes region over fortifying a Chicago-area lock
and dam to prevent Asian carp from invading Lake Michigan and threatening
its native fish.
Gov. Bruce Rauner
said his state was willing to team with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on
paying for the project but wanted changes to a $275 million draft plan the
federal agency released last year.
The plan, centered
on the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois, is backed by some of
the region’s eight states that consider the location a vital line of defense
between the carp-infested Illinois River and Lake Michigan. But Illinois
says it would bog down cargo shipping on the busy waterway, with a potential
ripple effect on Chicago’s highways as more freight is moved by truck.
The Army Corps
proposal would install devices such as an electric barrier, noisemakers and
water jets at the Brandon Road complex to block fish swimming upstream.
Under federal law, such a project requires a state or a local partner that
could share costs and help with matters such as securing rights of way.
In a letter to the
Corps sent Friday, Rauner said his state would fill the role of “non-federal
sponsor” and work with the agency “to review and better understand the
underlying scientific justification to support a project of this size, scope
and cost
The Republican
governor also asked his counterparts in the other states for talks toward an
agreement that “protects the Great Lakes and mitigates major deficiencies”
in the Corps plan.
Four types of carp
imported from Asia in the 1960s are threatening to attack the lakes, where
scientists say they could out-compete less aggressive species and damage a
$7 billion fishing industry.
Illinois says it
has significantly reduced the threat with commercial fishing of the Asian
carp’s “leading edge” population in a section of the Illinois River about 50
miles southwest of Lake Michigan. It says the carp have not advanced further
since 1990.
But neighboring
states and Great Lakes advocacy groups aren’t convinced. One of the feared
invaders was found last summer in Chicago’s Little Calumet River just 9
miles from the lake. Tests showed the silver carp had gotten through or
around three electric fish barriers.
“While our efforts
to keep Asian carp from Lake Michigan have proven effective, many have
suggested we need to do more,” Illinois Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti said.
“If the Corps can address our economic, transportation, environmental and
cost concerns in partnership with Illinois, we have no problem working with
other states to enhance our efforts at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam.”
Michigan Gov. Rick
Snyder proposed an interstate partnership in January to help cover costs of
operating and maintaining the proposed Brandon Road fish-blocking systems.
Ohio, Wisconsin, the Canadian province of Ontario and the city of Chicago
signed on.
But the Army Corps
told Snyder on Friday the coalition couldn’t qualify as the legally required
non-federal sponsor without Illinois’ participation.
Snyder considers
Illinois’ offer to take part “an important step forward,” spokeswoman Jordan
Kennedy said.
“We all have the
same objective, which is to protect the Great Lakes,” she said.
The Alliance for
the Great Lakes, a Chicago-based environmental group, urged the other states
to resist weakening the Army Corps plan.
“Any efforts to
change it should be to make it stronger,” said Molly Flanagan, the group’s
vice president for policy.