CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Members of the Chicago area congressional delegation got together Thursday to tout the federal funding of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam project near Joliet and a reassessment of the Chicago shoreline.
The giant fish tank at the Shedd Aquarium was the backdrop as elected officials and representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers discussed the projects to keep Asian carp out of the lake and to complete a new assessment of the damaged Chicago shoreline and what’s needed to further protect it.
"The invasive species, particularly the Asian carp, really threaten the very existence of the fisheries and ecological balance of Lake Michigan. We take it seriously," said Senator Dick Durbin. "For almost 10 years, I have been putting money in the budget to fight that damn Asian carp."
Mayor Lori Lightfoot added that "Lake Michigan is a crucial and iconic part of Chicago. It is the thing that sets up apart from any other city in the country."
Congressman Bill Foster, whose district includes the Brandon Road Project designed to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan, talked about his son introducing him to what he called a new sport on the Illinois River.
"So we went down into an infested area of the river down by Peoria, and you get in a boat and sit on either side of the engine...and you just drive through these infested areas and these gigantic carp jump out of the sternway and you shoot them as they jump," Foster said. "It sounds like fun, but seeing an entire river, or an entire lake, full of this invasive species just makes you sick to your stomach. And I guarantee we do not want these ever in tributary in the Great Lakes region."
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Foster called the Brandon Road Project “the last best line of defense against the invasion of Asian Carp.”
The Asian Carp project received more than $200 million; and the lakefront reevaluation project received $1.5 million with a $1.5 million match from the city.
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