Concerned about federal funding being withheld, the state of Illinois has postponed closing on property rights for land needed for a $1.2-billion project to prevent Asian carp and other invasive species from entering the Great Lakes through Illinois waterways, and has paused some other related infrastructure projects.  

The closing, previously planned for Feb. 11, has now been postponed to May for a project to specifically block the advance of the invasive carp species at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam near Joliet, Ill. 

In a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in February, Natalie Phelps Finnie, director of the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources (IDNR), wrote that the state has delayed the property closing for the Brandon Road Interbasin Project (BRIP) based on the anticipated withholding of $117 million in federal funding and “to allow Illinois to receive written assurances of federal funding.” 

The state has been scheduled to acquire title and authorize federal government access to land rights necessary for the project to proceed, according to the IDNR.  

“If the federal government does not live up to its obligations, Illinois could unfairly suffer the burden of hundreds of millions of dollars of liability,” Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) said in a statement. “We cannot move forward until the Trump Administration provides more certainty and clarity on whether they will follow the law and deliver infrastructure funds we were promised.”  

The project will install a complex series of deterrents to prevent upstream movement of carp and other aquatic nuisance species on the Illinois Waterway—a network of rivers, canals and locks that connects the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River.

Allen Marshall, chief of corporate communications for the Corps, said that construction on the first phase of the BRIP project entailing site preparation and riverbed rock removal is underway, but the next two phases would be impacted by a delay.

“Future construction is contingent on receipt of funding, required permits and necessary real estate interests from the State of Illinois,” Marshall said in an email. “The State of Illinois’ decision to postpone the property rights closing will result in a delay of future construction on the BRIP until the requisite rights are obtained.” 

In the first phase of the project already underway, Okla.-based Miami Marine is working with Michels Construction, Inc. of Milwaukee under a $15.5-million contract covering site preparation and riverbed rock removal for the engineered channel.

Work on the second phase and third phases includes installing automated barge clearing, bubble deterrent, acoustic deterrent, electric deterrent, downstream and upstream boat launches, flushing lock and engineering the floor and walls for the electric and acoustic deterrents and finishing engineering the channel.

“Right now, our project management team is fully engaged as they work toward completion of the first construction contract, advancing design on future construction contracts and assembling solicitation packages to assure construction work can go out to bid as soon as requirements are met,” Marshall said. 

The overall project is a partnership between the Corps of Engineers and the states of Illinois and Michigan.  

"It is imperative that the work at Brandon Road continues in order to protect the Great Lakes commercial and recreational fishery, which is valued at $7 billion annually and supports more than 75,000 jobs,” said Scott Bowen, director of the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources, in an email. 

Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the nonprofit Alliance for the Great Lakes, estimates that Asian carp are within 50 miles of the Great Lakes, and is also concerned about a delay. 

“Any delay or halt of construction of this project threatens the economy and environment of the Great Lakes and opens the door to yet another invasive species to do irreversible damage to the Great Lakes and to the people who call it home,” he said.

Illinois says federal monies also are being withheld for 70 other infrastructure projects in the state such as the Abandoned Mine Lands program, which helps former coal-producing communities clean up toxic discharge and pollution on land and in waterways, and another program that plugs and removes abandoned oil and gas wells. Illinois has more than 3,800 orphaned oil and gas wells, according to the state.