Trump Wants to ‘Save’ Great Lakes From Invasive Carp, But Halts Funds
Federal funds for barrier system halted as Army Corps of Engineers reviews projects.
Silver carp jump in the La Grange pool of the Illinois River as Illinois Natural History Survey staff work on the Upper Mississippi River Restoration program’s long-term monitoring program. Staff are electrofishing to monitor fish populations as they have ecological, recreational and commercial value to the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Photo courtesy of Illinois Natural History Survey
President Donald Trump said he’s working to save the Great Lakes from invasive carp, but his administration is holding up money for a billion-dollar project to keep them at bay.
Trump posted to Truth Social last week that he was working with Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to “save The Great Lakes from the rather violent and destructive Asian Carp” after Whitmer met with Trump on Tuesday. He also said he was going to ask governors of Great Lakes states to “join into this fight.”
But the announcement comes as the Army Corps of Engineers has paused funding for the Brandon Road Interbasin Project that aims to block invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes. The pause is part of a broader administrative review despite Congress already appropriating $274 million for the $1.15 billion project.
Trump has directed his administration to act with “maximum speed and efficiency” on the project. Gov. Tony Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback said the governor has raised concerns about invasive carp since he took office in 2019.
“Gov. Evers doesn’t need an invitation from the president to ‘join the fight’ because he’s been helping lead this conversation from the get-go,” Cudaback wrote.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker echoed those sentiments in a statement Friday, accusing Trump of “betraying” every American that relies on the Great Lakes. He added federal grants totaling $13.6 million have also been held up for carp removal.
“It is imperative that President Trump uphold his stated commitments to stop the invasive species threatening our Great Lakes and release the funds needed to resume construction on the Brandon Road Interbasin Project,” Pritzker said.
In a Jan. 15 letter, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, was among Democrats who urged Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle to release funds for the project. On Wednesday, Durbin said in a statement that he had yet to receive a response.
The Army Corps of Engineers didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The project at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam includes installation of underwater defenses on the Des Plaines River near Joliet, Illinois. The goal is to keep invasive carp from getting into the Chicago Area Waterway System that connects the Illinois River to Lake Michigan through the use of noisemakers, a bubble curtain, electric barrier and flushing lock. Silver carp are notorious for leaping up to 10 feet in the air when disturbed by noise.
In his post, Trump erroneously said invasive carp are “rapidly taking over Lake Michigan.” The current population on the Illinois River is about 47 miles from Lake Michigan and heavily monitored. That’s why it’s so important that the Brandon Road project move forward, said Joel Brammeier, president and chief executive officer of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.
“Once an invasion starts, it’s almost impossible to get rid of it, so the job now is to prevent them from establishing and making sure that that doomsday scenario doesn’t come too fast,” Brammeier said.
Asked about the project’s funding status, a White House official said there’s nothing more to share at this time beyond Trump’s post and 2025 memorandum.
The invasive fish has been found on several occasions above Romeoville’s electric barriers within miles of Lake Michigan, including most recently in 2022. But no bighead or silver carp were captured during monitoring in the Chicago Area Waterway System this past fall. State programs and commercial fishers have removed 106 million pounds of invasive carp from the Illinois River over the last 25 years as part of efforts to protect the Great Lakes.
The invasive fish threatens the $7 billion fishing industry in the Great Lakes by gobbling up food that other native fish rely on for food, said Titus Seilheimer, fisheries outreach specialist with Wisconsin Sea Grant.
“It might cost a lot to upgrade Brandon Road Lock and Dam, but then the ecological cost down the road if carp get into the Great Lakes is much higher than the money we spend now,” Seilheimer said. “I do think that prevention is definitely more cost-effective in the long run.”
Evers and other Great Lakes governors have also called for full federal funding of the project’s remaining operation, maintenance and replacement costs.
Trump wants to ‘save’ Great Lakes from invasive carp as administration stalls funding for it was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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