WASHINGTON, D.C. (WKZO) — The U.S. Senate Great Lakes Task Force has a new co-chair with Debbie Stabenow joining Senator Matt Kirk of Illinois heading up the panel. Michigan’s senior senator says they have a slew of goals.
Stabenow says she wants to take steps to put barriers in place to stop the spread of the invasive Asian carp into Lake Michigan. The next step involves making changes west of Chicago where the Illinois River and Mississippi River converge. Stabenow says there is bipartisan work on legislation to add more barriers and electric fences to prevent the Asian carp from moving further east beyond the Brandon Road Dam in Illinois.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying how to separate the Chicago River system from Lake Michigan and change the direction the water flows, but Stabenow has cautioned that solution is years from becoming reality.
