NEMWI hosted a Capitol Hill briefing on June 30, 2015, on monitoring, management, and research related to combating Asian Carp in the Great lakes, Ohio River, and Upper Mississippi River Basins. The briefing featured federal agency representatives from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Co-Chairs of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee), as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Geological Service. The briefing covered upcoming 2015 efforts, including research of control technologies, efforts to halt one-way passage of invasive species at the Brandon Road Lock & Dam in Joliet, Illinois, and ongoing monitoring and removal efforts in partnership with the states. Recent spending bills, passed by the House and passed out of Committee by the Senate, provide support to finishing the electrical barriers in Illinois as well as to further the design and study of additional efforts. Materials are available here.
Honorary cosponsors of this briefing were Senate Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Senators Mark Kirk and Debbie Stabenow; Senate Vice-Chairs Senators Rob Portman and Amy Klobuchar; House Great Lakes Task Force Co-Chairs Congresswoman Miller, Congresswoman Kaptur, Congressman Duffy, & Congresswoman Slaughter.