December 31, 2020 By Shelley Byrne
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell touted inclusion of funds to combat against invasive Asian carp species as part of the recently passed 2020 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA).
McConnell championed an authorization of $45 million for both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to a news release from his office December 21.
A McConnell-inserted allocation creates the $25 million Asian Carp Pilot Program to be administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The program requires that up to 10 projects must be deployed in the Cumberland or Tennessee River watersheds, which includes Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. It amounts to a renewal of a $25 million program instituted in 2020 to help combat the spread of the fish.