Great Lakes lawmakers act to stop Asian carp

[Spiel]

Great Lakes lawmakers act to stop Asian carp

 

July 1, 2010

Jim Lynch / www.detnews.com

 

 

Legislation introduced Wednesday by Great Lakes lawmakers seeks to do what federal agencies have been unwilling to do so far in the battle against the invasive Asian carp -- create a permanent barrier between the waters where the fish is present and Lake Michigan.

 

The Permanent Prevention of Asian Carp Act would compel the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to "expedite" a study outlining the best means of separating the Mississippi River basin and Great Lakes.

 

The proposal comes more than a week after a single bighead Asian carp was discovered in Chicago's Lake Calumet, six miles past an electric barrier designed to stop the fish. Since that discovery, many groups have expressed dissatisfaction with the U.S. government's response, particularly that of the Army Corps.

 

In the past 12 months, many elected officials of Great Lakes states have called for closing the shipping locks that connect the Illinois River to Lake Michigan, but Chicago representatives, businesses and Corps officials have balked at the idea.

 

"We should be closing the locks because we should be doing everything humanly possible," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, in a conference call Wednesday. "I understand it's more complicated in the Chicago area, but the threat from the Asian carp outweighs any other issues."

 

In a statement released Wednesday, Illinois Manufacturers' Association Vice President Mark Denzler discounted the need for immediate action. "The simple response to a request for the 'best way' to sever the essential waterway connection is it doesn't exist," he said. "Hydrologic separation would reverse over 150 years of commercial activity and devastate the regional economy."

 

Stabenow also said the bill would address concerns that carp could reach Lake Erie in large numbers via the Wabash River near Fort Wayne, Ind..

 

Environmental groups in Canada have thrown their weight behind efforts to force quicker action from the U.S. government. Organizations such as the nonprofit environmental law group Ecojustice have joined Environmental Defence Canada and Great Lakes United to ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the secretary of state to consider Canadian interests in all matters dealing with the Asian carp as well.

 

Mary Muter, the baykeeper for Georgian Bay on the Canadian side of Lake Huron, said the U.S. response to the Asian carp threat has been "totally inadequate."

 

"One of the reasons we're doing this is to force the EPA to hold public hearings on the matters so that Canada's risk assessment for these carp can become part of the public record," she said. "We've heard U.S. agencies say they're not sure Asian carp can survive in the Great Lakes. ... Well, our Department of Fisheries and Oceans' carp assessment does not agree with that."