Congress targets Asian carp problem in Great Lakes

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to provide $6 million for continuing efforts to thwart the Asian carp from penetrating the Great Lakes in what environmentalists fear would destroy much of the existing wildlife in the world’s largest surface freshwater resource.

Money to address problems posed by the nuisance fish was included in a mammoth $33.5 billion appropriations measure for water and energy projects that won Senate approval on an 80-17 vote.

Congress has appropriated more than $30 million to prevent the Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes, including millions of dollars for electronic fences along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, near the Illinois communities of Lockport and Romeoville.

The bill now bound for President Barack Obama’s expected signature includes money for construction and operation of electronic barriers, and completion of an Army Corps of Engineers’ study of the barriers’ effectiveness and possible other options to combat the fish.

The legislation also grants the corps authority to prevent aquatic nuisance species from bypassing the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal’s electronic dispersal barrier.

Environmentalists and others have become increasingly concerned that an emergency berm or wall is needed along the Des Plaines River, where carp recently have been found. Flooding of the Des Plaines could allow carp to bypass the canal barrier system and swim into Lake Michigan.

Zachary Cikanek, spokesman for Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., a leading proponent of the study, said short-term action by the Army might include building up berms with sandbags in six low-lying areas on the Des Plaines. Also, he said the Army may plug a possible bypass through the Illinois and Michigan Canal.