Even as President Donald Trump pledged this week to help protect the Great Lakes from invasive carp, a top Senate Democrat and an advocacy group say his administration is delaying a billion-dollar infrastructure project critical to that goal.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was working with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to “save The Great Lakes from the rather violent and destructive Asian Carp” and urged other governors to “join into this fight.”
Whitmer, who is often considered a 2028 presidential hopeful, met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday in a bid to get federal disaster aid money for last year’s damaging ice storm that hit the northern part of her state. The meeting also included discussion of the nonnative fish, considered a major threat to the Great Lakes.
While environmental advocates and Midwest lawmakers welcomed Trump’s attention to the issue, critics say his administration has paused construction on the Brandon Road Interbasin Project considered vital to blocking the carp from making their way from surrounding rivers into the lakes. The $1.15 billion engineering project is designed to keep invasive species out of Lake Michigan and is funded jointly by the federal government, Michigan and Illinois.
