Carp barrier awaits federal funding

MILWAUKEE (AP) - The new $9 million electric barrier keeping invasive Asian carp out of Lake Michigan needs to be shut down for regular maintenance, but no one seems to have the money.

That maintenance is needed about every six months. It requires shutting down the electric barrier for a day or two, but before the power is shut off the canal in front of it needs to be poisoned to keep migrating fish from reaching the lake.

Poisoning costs about $750,000, but despite the millions going into the Great Lakes as part of President Barack Obama's ecosystem restoration program no one apparently can afford it.

Phil Moy is a University of Wisconsin Sea Grant biologist and co-chair of the panel helping the Army Corps manage the barrier. He says it's "frustrating as hell."