Congress set to help lake with veto vote

By DAVID STEINKRAUS
Journal Times

Tuesday, November 6, 2007 6:27 PM CST

The House overrode a presidential veto Tuesday evening, 361-54, and if the Senate concurs, a water bill important to the Great Lakes will become law.

Legislators from South Dakota to Florida lined up the past few days to vow an override of President Bush’s Water Resources Development Act veto. The $23 billion bill covers a broad range of items, from Florida Everglades restoration to projects along the hurricane-damaged Louisiana coast.

Within the bill is also money for an electric barrier to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. The White House has objected to the act saying it’s too expensive and does not set priorities.

There is a temporary barrier working now in the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal. It runs an electric current through the water to stop the fish from entering the lake.

But the present barrier was only temporary, and funding has never been allocated to finish the project and make it permanent.

“The federal government’s delay in completing the carp barrier is irresponsible, because the barrier is essential for protecting the multibillion dollar sport and commercial fishery in the Great Lakes,” Racine Mayor Gary Becker said in a prepared statement. He is the current chairman of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.

Asian carp can grow to 100 pounds. They were originally imported to control algae in fish ponds in the South, but they escaped into the Mississippi River in the 1990s and have been migrating north through the Mississippi system ever since. The fear is that if they enter the Great Lakes they will gobble up most of the creatures on the bottom of the food chain, devastating the commercial and sport fishing industries.

An override vote in the Senate could come as early as today, news reports said.

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