EPA union urges Trump administration to release Asian carp report

The union representing the Environmental Protection Agency employees in the Midwest is in union with the major conservation groups around the Great Lakes.

On Friday, in an unusual move, AFGE Local 704 urged release of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam study and backed the Stop Asian Carp Now Act.

The study, for additional protection efforts against the advance of Asian carp at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, was supposed to be released in February 28, but was blocked by the Trump administration. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spent two years on the study.

Last week, in a bi-partisan effort, the Stop Asian Carp Now Act, was introduced in Congress to force the Trump administration to release the report.

Support came immediately from major conservation groups around the Great Lakes–Alliance for the Great Lakes, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Ohio Environmental Council, Prairie Rivers Network, Save The River, Sierra Club, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council–backing the act.

Timing is critical. In ongoing surveying by the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, an 8-pound silver carp was discovered on June 22, nine miles from Lake Michigan near the launches at Beaubien Woods.

“If Asian carp gets past the locks, it’s game over for the Great Lakes,” said AFGE Local 704 President Mike Mikulka. “The Trump administration needs to take the brick off the Brandon Road Study right now, before it’s too late.”