Farmers Weekly Review

By Nick Reiher

Gov. JB Pritzker has postponed the Brandon Road Basin project to block invasive Asian carp in response to President Trump withholding federal funding and grants.

Pritzker and other Illinois officials, as well as those from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wisconsin, and Michigan were to be present at a groundbreaking February 11 at the Brandon Road Bridge site.

Initially, media was notified of the postponement by the U.S. Army Corps, but there was no mention of why.

Later, the governor’s office shared a letter from Natalie Phelps Finnie, Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, to Col. Aaron Williams, Commander-Rock Island District, US Army Corps of Engineers announcing the postponement:

“I write regarding the Project Partnership Agreement (“PPA”) for the Brandon Road, Will County, Illinois Project for Ecosystem Restoration to Control Aquatic Nuisance Species (“Brandon Road Project”) between the United States Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) and the State of Illinois (“Illinois”). Please be advised that Illinois is postponing the February 11, 2025, property rights closing for Increment 1 of this project based on the anticipated lack of federal funding for the Brandon Road Project.

“This correspondence supersedes the January 28, 2025, letter to the Corps from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources providing assurances for obtaining initial riverbed property rights by February 11th. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources will be requesting a potential May 2025 closing to allow Illinois to receive written assurances of federal funding.

“The Trump Administration’s lack of clarity and commitment to delivering funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources leaves the state to anticipate a lack of federal funding for the Brandon Road Project. The Brandon Road Project is an extremely important project to protect the ecosystem and economy of the entire Great Lakes region from invasive carp and the economic and environmental damage that this would cause. We stand ready to move forward if the administration provides the certainty to fund this critical project.”

Pritzker also issued the following statement:

“Since taking office, the Trump Administration has shown it cannot be trusted to legally uphold its financial commitments to the State of Illinois. Despite court orders, the Trump Administration continues to withhold funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources – to create jobs cleaning up abandoned mines and gas wells that are polluting air and water in rural communities.

“I have a responsibility to protect Illinois taxpayers. 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. 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.

“Our hands are tied here. At the end of the day, we must do business with partners operating in good faith, and the Trump Administration has yet to show us they are capable of that.”

The governor’s office said that through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Brandon Road Interbasin Project is due to receive $226 million from the federal government, through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for construction and work with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

They alleged the Trump Administration has withheld $117 million in federal grants for IDNR, forcing the state to pause contracts and putting nearly 70 infrastructure projects on hold and more than 120 construction jobs at risk.

Illinois officials have been working with their counterparts in Michigan and Wisconsin to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan. The carp cause serious damage to native fish populations because they out-compete other fish for food.

Asian carp already have wreaked havoc on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, Illinois officials say. Great Lakes communities and industries would be deeply harmed if invasive carp get into the Great Lakes and their tributaries and inland lakes.

They have identified the Brandon Road Lock and Dam as the crucial pinch point where layered technologies could be used to stop invasive carp populations.

In July 2024, the states of Illinois and Michigan signed a project partnership agreement with the USACE Rock Island District, moving the project into construction phase. This agreement allowed $274 million in federal funding, and $114 million in state funding to be used for construction of the first of three construction increments. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $1.15 billion.

Nick Reiher is editor of Farmers Weekly Review.