Asian Carp Could Mean Construction Bonanza

The Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative have released a million dollar study by Omaha based HDR, Inc. of methods for physically blocking the spread of predatory Asian Carp into Lake Michigan through the Chicago Area Waterway System. The study proposes three different options for physical obstruction of carp migration through the water system originally built to keep raw Chicago River sewage out of Lake Michigan.

The options all involve sheet pilings and impermeable land bridges within the navigable waterways, with the two more expensive options including intermodal cargo transfers and recreational boat lifts to maintain navigability. Costs of the various construction projects are predicted to range from $3.3 billion up to $9.5 billion, with a time line of 10 years before breaking ground, and completion in 2029.  The Army Corps of Engineers is also studying the Asian Carp problem, and in a letter to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy, 31 Congressmen and Senators have asked her to include the HDR study in the Corps project to speed up the fish barrier.

Stimulus Funded "Green Jobs" Begin Sprouting

Announcements of green job creation from around the nation last week were poking up like the jonquil sprouts in my back garden. Conservation Services Group, an energy efficiency consulting firm headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts has begun hiring 200 employees, a 50% increase in its workforce, for stimulus funded projects in 22 states. California's Governor Schwarzenegger announced the creation of California Green Corps, a 1,000 person pilot program to train young adults for solar panel installation and wind turbine manufacturing jobs over the next 20 months. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has begun distributing $132 million in stimulus money to not-for-profit organizations for low income homeowner weatherization projects, an 11 fold increase in that state's energy assistance program. Steven Horsford of Nevada, Senate Majority Leader, announced that his state will devote $37 million in stimulus appropriations to weatherization of low income housing, schools, and other public buildings in his state.