The United States House of Representatives approved the Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act by a voice vote yesterday — a bill that regulates bighead Asian carp under the Lacey Act, banning importation and interstate transport of the invasive species currently threatening the Great Lakes.

The Senate unanimously passed a companion measure earlier this month, and the bill will now head to President Barack Obama’s desk to be signed into law.

If signed, the bighead carp will join company with silver carp, which the Fish and Wildlife Service has regulated since 2007.

Many government officials and interest groups, who have clashed on other measures regarding the regulation of Asian carp, jointly expressed support for the bill in recent months.

Confident that the legislation would garner enough support, House leaders passed the bill under suspension of the rules — a process that allows for expedited consideration with limited debate and requires a two-thirds majority for passage.

Rep. Judy Biggert (R–Ill.), who sponsored the legislation, praised its victory as a triumph of bipartisanship, according to a press release.

“I’m very pleased we were able to work with our colleagues from Michigan to secure enactment of this measure, and grateful for the support of my colleagues from throughout the Great Lakes states,” she said in the press release.

Joel Brammeier, president and CEO of the group Alliance for the Great Lakes, said in an interview that he supported the bill but questioned its impact.

According to Brammeier, because bighead carp are already outlawed in all of the Great Lakes states, the bill will be a good measure for other watersheds, but won’t have much of an effect on the Great Lakes system.

“It’s a little bit like closing the barn door after the horse has run away,” he said.

UnLock Our Jobs, a coalition of business groups formed to protect commercial interests from what they view as unwarranted Asian carp regulation, also expressed support for the measure.

“To be perfectly clear, the coalition doesn’t want Asian carp advancing to the Great Lakes any more than our so-called opposition,” said Mark Biel, chair of UnLock Our Jobs.

One possible target of the legislation is a religious group, which is said to ritually release the fish into Lake Michigan, according to Prof. David Jude of the University’s School of Natural Resources and Environment.

Several other regulatory measures pending in congressional committees are more widely contested.

The Close All Routes and Prevent Asian Carp Today Act, proposed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D–Mich.) and Rep. Dave Camp (R–Mich.), directs the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to immediately close several key waterways.

The bill was introduced several months before the Supreme Court denied a request from Michigan and four other Great Lakes states for an injunction to close the waterways.

The CARP ACT intends to provide a physical barrier that prevents the Asian carp — already prevalent in the Mississippi River — from advancing farther into the Great Lakes.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website, the invasive carp, which can weigh as much as 100 pounds and grow to four feet in length, “pose a significant risk to the Great Lakes Ecosystem.”

However, UnLock Our Jobs has defiantly opposed the passage of the CARP ACT, citing its potential to slow the transport of commodities valued above $16 billion that move through the Chicago locks each year. According to the interest group’s website, closing the locks could cost billions of dollars in delays and increased product costs.

Rep. Biggert echoed the sentiments of the group, saying that she also opposes the bill.

“Measures like these may catch headlines, but they won’t catch carp,” she said in a press release.

A second contested measure, also introduced by Stabenow and Camp, would require the U.S.