CHICAGO, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Members of a federal task force announced funding for a $9.1 million permanent electrified barrier on a waterway near Chicago to halt voracious Asian carp.
A bill eliminating a $2.4 million shortfall for the Great Lakes protection project passed in Congress a week ago and President Bush was expected to sign it. Ohio Gov. Bob Taft said he would ask Great Lakes states to pick up the remaining $575,000 for the project. Taft is chairman of the Council of Great Lakes Governors.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will construct the permanent electric barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to keep Asian carp from migrating from the Mississippi River into Lake Michigan. Asian carp breed fast and grow as large as 50 pounds.
"Asian carp threaten both the ecology and the economy of the Great Lakes system, said U.S. EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt.
A temporary electrified barrier has been in place since 1996 protecting the $4 billion fishery against invasive species but it is at the end of its useful life.
