Post a short message like the one below to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) or write your own and submit it at the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study website.

The Congressional mandate says to study ways to “prevent” invasive species movement between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River. Sadly, page 1 of the project management plan calls for spending extra time and resources to study ways to “reduce the risk”

This was not authorized by Congress nor is it a credible strategy that will protect the Great Lakes or the 28-state Mississippi River basin from future invasions. This is unacceptable. The study should focus only on options that will “prevent” invasive species movement.

The study takes too long. The Chicago portion of the study is not predicted to be complete until mid-2015. Given the urgent need to implement a permanent solution, condense the timeline and produce final results for the Chicago waterways within 18 months rather than mid-2015.