Obama Administration to Host Public Meeting on Asian Carp in Bloomington, MN

WASHINGTON, D.C. – White House Council on Environmental Quality Asian Carp Director John Goss led a public meeting of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee (ACRCC) on Thursday, April 5, 2012, at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Bloomington, MN, to discuss the proactive efforts of the Obama Administration and the Great Lakes states to prevent Asian carp from establishing a self-sustaining population in the Great Lakes.

The meeting featured updates by ACRCC members on actions underway as part of the recently released 2012 Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework, an unprecedented, multi-tiered strategy that includes monitoring; barrier construction; harvesting; enforcement; outreach; and research and development of long-term biological controls for Asian carp. The event also included an opportunity for the public to comment and provide feedback on ACRCC efforts.

The ACRCC is led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and includes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation and all eight Great Lakes states, as well as the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, and the City of Chicago.