White House environmental officials met with three Great Lakes governors on Monday to formulate what they call an “unparalleled effort” –- including a $78.5 million commitment of federal dollars -- to keep the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

The state of Michigan has demanded that Chicago-area locks and gates be closed immediately to stop the voracious fish from reaching Lake Michigan via connecting waterways. On February 4, Michigan petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court demanding the closure, citing new evidence uncovered since the court turned down its previous plea. (Natural Resources Defense Council Midwest Program director Henry Henderson blogs about the situation here.)

Illinois officials have stridently resisted Michigan’s call to close the locks. So on Monday, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and officials from the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of the Interior, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service met with the governors of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin to seek solutions.

The resulting “Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework” lays out 25 actions designed to block the movement of Asian carp in the short term while studying long-range solutions. Within 90 days, according to the framework, the locks will be opened less frequently, and whenever they are, the waterways would be poisoned and other control measure instituted to make sure the carp don't progress past their current territory.

Meanwhile, the Army Corps will continue to study the impacts and feasibility of permanently closing the locks, albeit on a much quicker timetable (the original completion date for the report was 2014). Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, noted that there are multiple entry points into Lake Michigan that are not blocked by locks or gates, so barriers that use electricity or sound will also need to be installed.

Officials will also study ways of stopping Asian carp from spreading through ballast and bilge water, step up enforcement of prohibitions on buying and selling invasive species, encourage the harvesting of carp from waterways that it has already invaded (such as the Mississippi River) for food and nutritional supplements, and develop new poisons that specifcally target Asian carp to help kill them without destroying other wildlife.

“We have to hit these carp and beat them back with all the tools in the toolbox,” said Cam Davis, President Obama’s senior adviser for Great Lakes issues. 

Together, the federal agencies involved in the summit committed $78.5 million this fiscal year for creating new barriers and exploring other methods of stopping the spread of Asian carp. The money will come primarily from a previously announced $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. That means the Asian carp emergency will theoretically divert funds from other badly needed projects covered by the initiative, ranging from wetlands restoration to the revamping of archaic sewer systems. 

Scientists who have detected Asian carp DNA in numerous locations beyond the Army Corps’ electric barrier say there is little doubt those results mean the carp have spread beyond the blockade. But federal officials at the summit implied skepticism, indicating that they believe their methods are working.

“No agency has found Asian carp upstream of the barrier," Davis said, "despite days and weeks of actively getting boots on the ground with nets, with shockers, and other methodologies to actively find them."

On February 12, federal, state, and local officials will hold a public meeting in Chicago to hear from fishermen, environmentalists, and others concerned about the potential impact of Asian carp on the Great Lakes' water quality and $7 billion fishing industry. Another public meeting will be held later elsewhere in the region.

NRDC's Thom Cmar said in a statement that despite Monday's meeting, the organization remains unconvinced that the right steps are being taken to protect the Great Lakes.

"We are concerned that the document released today still doesn't articulate a clear plan, based on the best available scientific information, that will actually work," Cmar said.

Read more of OnEarth's Asian carp coverage here.