Get serious about Asian carp

Kenosha (Wis.) News: Sen. Tammy Baldwin, at the Kenosha Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast on Monday, expressed some frustration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ report on keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

In response to a question about protecting water resources, Baldwin said she and other representatives from Great Lakes states were disappointed that the Corps of Engineers didn’t make a firm recommendation. After a five-year study, the Corps of Engineers issued a report in January that outlined eight potential strategies with varying timelines and costs.

Baldwin said she thought the report should have included a recommendation on what alternative would be most effective at keeping Asian carp out of Lake Michigan.

She makes a good point. It’s not enough to know there are numerous alternatives with numerous pricetags. Decision-makers need to know which alternatives are likely to do the most good. How else will they be able to justify simply continuing current protective measures at no additional costs or spending up to $18.4 billion more to build barriers in the Chicago Area Waterway System to physically separate the Mississippi River drainage system from the Great Lakes basin?