Portman fights threat to Great Lakes economy

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, last week led a group of his Great Lakes states colleagues in a bipartisan letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) urging it to act on preventing invasive Asian carp encroachment, a threat to jobs in fishing and outdoor recreation.

The letter to Ryan Fisher, acting assistant secretary of the U.S. Army (Civil Works), asked USACE to complete the Brandon Road Study, a plan to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, by January 2019.

“The USACE initiated the Brandon Road Study in April 2015 after the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basin Study identified the Brandon Road Lock & Dam as a location to control the movement of Asian carp into the Great Lakes,” the letter said.

Portman and his colleagues noted that USACE has said implementing recommended measures is unlikely before 2025, and called that timeline “particularly concerning given recent findings that demonstrated new ways for Asian carp to enter the Great Lakes,” including being caught up in currents between river barges.

“While waterway shipping is important to the economies of the Great Lakes states, it is also essential that we prevent the devastating impacts that would occur if Asian carp invade the Great Lakes,” the senators wrote.

The lawmakers cited studies that have shown that the impact of invasive species like Asian carp would contribute to the decline in native fish species and result in a reduction in total fish weight in Lake Erie.

“This threatens the Great Lakes’ world-class $7 billion/year fishing industry, $16 billion/year recreational boating industry, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs these industries support,” the letter said.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), who serves with Portman as Senate Great Lakes Task Force co-chair, joined in signing the letter, along with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), vice chair of the task force, and other members.