U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to support state efforts to protect Lake Michigan from invasive Asian carp after a meeting with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer at the White House.
“We’re also working on a certain fish that’s taking over a beautiful lake called Michigan, right?” Trump told reporters following the meeting. “And that’s a tough one.”
First introduced in the southern United States to consume and control pests at aquaculture facilities, the Asian carp eventually escaped into the wild and quickly settled into America’s waterways. The invasive species outcompete native fish and have had a devastating impact on local ecosystems. With the fish slowly expanding its territory northward to the Great Lakes, the Michigan government is working to stop the carp’s momentum and prevent it from entering and colonizing the Great Lakes basin.
Last year, the Michigan government announced a USD 1.2 billion (EUR 1 billion) partnership with the state government of neighboring Illinois and the Army Corps of Engineers for the Brandon Road Interbasin Project – “a complex series of invasive carp and aquatic nuisance species deterrents” built to stop carp from progressing beyond the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Illinois.
The project was set to kick off with USD 114 million (EUR 100 million) in state funding and USD 274 million (EUR 241 million) in federal funding. However, the Trump administration’s efforts to freeze federal funding – especially for projects related to the environment – concerned state officials, who decided to pause the project until the administration could assure them that federal funding would be released for the project.
Whitmer and Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall visited the White House 10 April to discuss funding for the project – along with other issues – with the president. Following the meeting, Trump announced that he would support Michigan’s efforts to halt the progression of Asian carp.
“They’re very powerful fish. I see them – they jump out of the water, they jump at the fishermen,” Trump said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Has this gotten into any of the other lakes yet? Because you would think it would be pretty easy because they’re all sort of connected.”
“That’s why we’re working so hard to make sure that we work with the Army Corps and erect a barrier, so that the Asian carp can’t get into Lake Michigan. It’ll devastate the ecosystem, the economy, tourism,” Whitmer replied to the president. “20 percent of the world’s fresh water is in the Great Lakes, which is why it’s so important that as a nation we protect the pristine waters.”
“We’ve got to stop it now,” Trump said. “I assume, the lakes are all interconnected, right? So at some point they’re going to be in the other lakes, so we’re going to work hard on that.”
The president said he had already spoken to the Army Corps of Engineers about stopping the advance of Asian carp.
“They have a method – it’s a pretty gruesome method, but it’s a method. I think they know what to do,” Trump said. “It’s a very expensive thing – it costs a lot … but we have to save Lake Michigan, because these fish, they eat everything in their way, even the other fish. They eat everything. Are people endangered by the fish?”
During comments after the meeting, Hall blamed prior Democrat administrations for not addressing the Asian carp issue.
“We couldn’t get Joe Biden to do anything about either one of these issues,” Hall told Trump, referring also to that state’s wishes to keep Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Michigan open. “For years when Obama was there, we could never get anyone to do anything about this invasive species that’s going to destroy our Great Lakes. You know how important recreational fishing and so much of that is to our state. Because of your work, we’re hopeful that we’ll get a solution there and we’ll get that barrier built so we can protect our Great Lakes.”
USD 226 million (EUR 199 million) of the funding for the Brandon Road Interbasin Project came from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds allocated by the administration of then-U.S. President Joe Biden.
“We’re going to get it done and we’ll all stand there together and cut a ribbon,” Trump said to Whitmer and Hall.
