Trump, Pritzker United in Fight Against Fish

A dispute that stalled a $1.2 billion plan to keep invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes appears to have ended, with the Trump administration now saying it will fund its share of the project. The initiative, years in planning, involves installing a suite of deterrent technologies—including bubble curtains, electric fields, and sound barriers—at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam on the Des Plaines River near Joliet, Illinois, the AP reports. The goal is to prevent invasive carp—introduced from Asia in the mid-20th century and now moving toward Lake Michigan—from disrupting the ecosystem and the region's $7 billion fishing industry.

A key agreement between the Army Corps of Engineers and state officials from Illinois and Michigan, backed by $226 million in federal infrastructure funds, was disrupted earlier this year. The Trump administration temporarily froze federal grants and loans in January while reviewing spending priorities. The hold was lifted after a couple of days, but Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a prominent Trump critic, delayed the transfer of a critical property, demanding assurances that the federal government would honor its funding commitments. On Friday, the White House issued a memo stating support for stopping invasive carp and called on Illinois to complete its property transaction by July 1, promising to expedite further permitting.

"My Administration fully supports preventing the spread of invasive carp," the memo from President Trump said. "The State of Illinois ... must cease further delay in cooperating with this effort, for the sake of its own citizens and economy and for the sake of all of the Great Lakes States." Pritzker's office said the project could move forward now that the federal government has provided assurances they "would hold up their end of the bargain." Another Democratic governor, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, praised the administration's move, calling it a "huge, huge deal for Michiganders and millions of people in our country who rely on the Great Lakes for their water and their work," Cleveland.com reports. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)