Invasive species

December 19, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that that the Senate has approved $9.25 million for the Army Corps of Engineers to continue operation and construction on the Asian Carp Barrier project. The funds were included in the omnibus appropriations bill passed by the Senate late yesterday. This barrier will prevent the spread of invasive species, including Asian Carp, between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.    » read more »

Federal Regulations Are Needed to Help Stop Ocean-Faring Vessels from Bringing Harmful Invasive Species into the Great Lakes

November 1, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold and a group of his Senate colleagues from Great Lakes states want the Senate to address the critical issue of ballast water bringing invasive species into the Great Lakes.    » read more »

Invasive species?

4-Sep-2007 -- A dime-sized tropical crab that has invaded coastal waters in the Southeast United States is having both positive and negative effects on oyster reefs, leaving researchers unable to predict what the creature’s long-term impact will be.

Unlike native crabs that eat baby oysters, mussels and fish, the green porcelain crab Petrolisthes armatus is a filter feeder, extracting its food from the water much as oysters do.    » read more »

July 17, 2007 -- AUGUSTA – Biologists from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) are taking notice of the first confirmed reports in the eastern U.S. of an aggressive invasive crab species recently caught in crab pots located in Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay and the Hudson River (New York).    » read more »

Update Upper Mississippi Locks

June 29, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved his funding requests to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species and to update the Mississippi’s locks:    » read more »

June 27, 2007 -- (Ogallala, NE) Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning today presented $75,000 to the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (CNPPID) for invasive species removal at Lake McConaughy.

The money was made available through the Attorney General’s Environmental Court Ordered Settlement Fund, a fund generated from voluntary payments collected in court-approved settlements from entities that have violated state and federal environmental regulations.    » read more »