Chicago, IL – U.S. Representative Judy Biggert (R-IL-13) today joined Chicago area boaters, waterway operators, and maritime business leaders for a discussion hosted by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce to highlight economic and employment issues surrounding the latest efforts to bar Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan.  In preparation for a public meeting planned for Friday by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other relevant agencies, Biggert joined economic leaders from around the region in cautioning against irresponsible lock closures that could shutter local businesses, destroy jobs, and flood millions of homes – with little hope of stopping the invasive fish.  During the event, Biggert delivered the following remarks:  

            “Thank you, Jim, for the opportunity to preview the Illinois Chamber’s position on Asian carp mitigation efforts in advance of Friday’s public hearing before the IEPA.  I am pleased to be here today with my colleague, Rep. Debbie Halvorson, as well as Jim Farrell from the Illinois Chamber, and business owners and employers from the district I represent – what we all view as the front lines in the battle to keep the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
 
            “In recent weeks, efforts to litigate and legislate Chicago-area lock closures as a means of keeping Asian carp out of Lake Michigan have reached nightmarish proportions. 
 
            “The “act now - think later” mentality that they represent are so misguided that they can only suggest that politics -- and not science and sound policy -- are ruling the day. 
 
            “For those of us who have been toiling in the fields for years to keep the Asian carp at bay, this new-found interest in emergency action is suspect at best. 
 
            “Of course we all are working to protect the Great Lakes ecosystem.   Environmentalists, sportsmen, businesses, employees, and government agencies throughout Illinois and elsewhere have found common cause and are working together to find the right way forward.  The right way is not a knee-jerk legal or legislative action that ignores peoples’ lives and livelihoods for what sounds simple yet is an alarmingly ineffective solution. 
 
            “Just think for a moment about what has prompted this hysteria.  A dead Asian carp was found below the electronic barrier, and a tiny bit of e-dna was found above the electronic barriers.  What is e-dna?  It could be fish feces, a fish scale, or a fish egg discharged by ballast water.   Are there pools of Asian carp swimming above the electronic barriers?  Of course not.  The only breeding population remains 42 miles away from Lake Michigan, in what some believe to be an ideal habitat for them in the Peru flats. 
 
            “Does anyone here remember when an Asian carp was found in the Lincoln Park Lagoon – a land-locked pond in the middle of Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo?  You may recall that the discovery prompted Mayor Daly to enact a city ordinance against releasing an Asian carp into any waterway.  Wisely, we didn’t close the city’s parks and zoos or waterways as a knee-jerk reaction.  We saw that discovery of an Asian carp for what it was – an isolated sighting, not an invasion. 
 
            “With that as background, let me just say a few words about the issue at hand. 
 
            “First, closing the locks is likely to increase the risk of Asian carp entering the Great Lakes.  The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago (MWRD) manages wastewater and storm water for Chicago and 124 municipalities through an intricate system of sluice gates, tunnels and reservoirs that has taken decades to construct.  Closing the locks would overwhelm that tunnel system and cause massive flooding, affecting more than 3 million people and 1.4 million structures in Chicago and 51 surrounding suburbs.
 
            “If the locks were to remain closed, as litigation and proposed legislation would call for, excess flood water could no longer be released into Lake Michigan and could flow over the top of the lock - creating more avenues for carp to migrate into the lake – just as flooding in the South allowed them to enter the Mississippi River to start with.
 
            “In case you have forgotten, flooding is the reason we have this problem today.  Farmers in the south imported Asian carp to clean up their fish ponds.  Heavy rains and flooding washed them into the Mississippi River, where they have since been able to thrive and migrate north.
 
            “Flooding won’t be our only problem.  As the business owners today will attest to – it’s also the absolutely devastating impact it will have on our local, state and national economy.
 
            “There is no viable alternative to re-routing that commerce.  According to the American Waterways Operators, a single barge can carry an amount of liquid cargo - like asphalt - that would fill 144 semi-trailer trucks or 46 rail cars.  Our rail and highway routes are simply not equipped to make up that difference. 
 
            “What have we done, and what can we do now to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes?
 
            “I have worked with Senator Durbin over the years to secure more than $25 million in federal funding to contain this invasive species, and to keep it from entering Lake Michigan.  Since 1998, the electric barrier project has received $41.2 million in federal funding.  And more is on the way.
 
            “In October, I helped secure emergency authority for the Corps to take immediate action.  With this authority, we have been able to fund the recent Rotenone application, upcoming bypass measures along the Des Plaines River, electro-fishing, and more E-DNA testing.  Additionally, I recently joined Senator Durbin to announce $20 million in supplemental funding to Fish and Wildlife for state efforts to stop the carp.
 
            “In fact, some of these same efforts are among the Chamber’s suggestions and are already underway.
 
            “First, the work to determine the efficacy of eDNA testing will be completed this summer.  The University of Notre Dame and Corps of Engineers have asked for an independent and peer-reviewed study of their technology to demonstrate its accuracy.  This is especially important for those individuals in other Great Lakes states who have used the scantest of evidence to litigate or legislate on behalf of lock closures. 
 
            “Second, the expansion of the current fish barrier system will begin in March. The Corps of Engineers expects to complete construction of Barrier IIB in September with continual operations beginning in October. 
 
            “Third, Illinois Department of Natural Resources will begin utilizing kill zones above the barrier as soon as temperatures rise enough for the poison to be effective. 
 
            “While these are proven and quick solutions, there are other ideas to consider. 
 
            “Like you, I believe that kill zones between the electric barriers and the Lockport Lock would be effective.  But, if we truly want to be effective, we should first focus our resources where we know a sustaining population of carp exists -- 42 miles from Chicago – in the Peru Flats near Dresden. 
 
            “We should also study the Great Lakes habitat to understand where Asian carp can actually thrive.  Many believe the depths and water temperature prevent adaption.  Others suggest more shallow and warm harbors or canals could foster a self-sustaining population. 
 
            “I will work with my colleagues to address these, and other important questions to combat Asian carp and protect Illinois jobs and commerce.  But I will not allow those who harbor an “act now, think later” approach to solving this problem flood our basements and kill our jobs for a quick fix that won’t work.  Closing our locks and dams is not the answer.

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