Supreme Court Asked to Join Asian Carp Battle Michigan's attorney general is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to help fend off the advancing Asian carp before the fish can reach and potentially devastate the Great Lakes. "The Alliance applauds Michigan's move to protect the lakes," said Alliance President Joel Brammeier. "Knowing there are carp less than seven miles from Lake Michigan, we have to take every precaution until we know those canals are free from carp and the barrier is not being breached." The lawsuit, filed Monday by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, calls on the nation's highest court to seal off Chicago-area locks and waterways leading into Lake Michigan and to require new barriers to prevent the fish's movement into the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal via the floodwaters of nearby rivers. Cox also calls for a comprehensive study of the Chicago waterway system to identify the locations and number of Asian carp for eradication, and urges that the waterways be permanently separated from the Great Lakes -- a strategy the Alliance has advocated since releasing a study on the subject last year. Named in the federal court action are the state of Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. With Cox's lawsuit imminent, Wisconsin's attorney general last week announced he would use his authority to try to stop the Asian carp, becoming the second Great Lakes state to announce its intention to do legal battle against the invading fish. "As long as we're stuck waiting for a plan to permanently prevent invasions between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi, we applaud the states stepping in to protect their Great Lakes waters," said Brammeier. "The stakes are too high; we've got to flip the switch from crisis to prevention." The U.S. EPA is also stepping in, announcing earlier this month plans to use $13 million in new Great Lakes restoration money to assist in the fight against the Asian carp. The agency said the $13 million in Great Lakes restoration money will be used by the corps for engineering projects that include closing conduits and shoring up low-lying lands between the Sanitary and Ship Canal and adjacent waterways. Those waterways are already infested with Asian carp and during heavy rains could send the carp into the canal with floodwaters. The rest of the money will go to further DNA testing to try to determine how far the carp have advanced. The Alliance has pushed for the construction of emergency barriers in the canal since October, but only as a stopgap measure. "It’s important for us to stay focused on successes that lead to a long-term solution," said Brammeier, who advocates a permanent breakup of the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins as the only long-term solution to the transfer of invasive species between the two watersheds. A study he co-authored on the subject with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission a year ago said the two major watersheds -- connected artificially via the Sanitary and Ship Canal -- could be separated with minimal impacts on the flow of goods and to recreational boaters. The idea is gaining momentum with policy makers, conservationists and now members of Congress. A bipartisan group of 50 congressmen called on Dec. 18 for permanent separation of the two waterways in a letter to the corps, the EPA, the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The developments come after officials treated six miles of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with fish poison in early December to kill any Asian carp in the water during routine maintenance on an electric barrier some 20 miles downstream of Lake Michigan. The barrier was built specifically to repel the fish -- which have been making their way up the Mississippi River for decades now -- and prevent their passage into the world's largest surface freshwater system, where they could devastate the region's $7 billion fishing industry and permanently alter how recreational boaters, anglers and tourists use and enjoy the lakes. Known to batter boaters and even knock them into the water at the sound of a passing motor, Asian carp are voracious filter feeders that can grow to more than 4 feet long, weigh up to 100 pounds and quickly dominate a body of water by gobbling up the same food that sustains native fish populations. A single Asian carp was discovered in the treated zone of the canal, affirming earlier DNA testing that had shown Asian carp near the barrier. DNA testing also indicates the presence of Asian carp upstream near the canal's O'Brien Lock, located six miles from Lake Michigan.Those findings touched off a firestorm of worry that time and options for fending off the jumbo-sized jumping carp are running short. EPA says funding for the emergency engineering projects in the canal will come from the $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative appropriated by Congress this fall to launch a comprehensive restoration of the lakes, including contaminated harbor cleanups, habitat improvements and crackdowns on runoff pollution and invasive species. The money is said to be a down payment on a restoration plan first called for in 2005 by a coalition of conservationists, agencies, industry representatives and elected officials. Brammeier said he'd like to see those funds restored next year. "We're hoping we can get the congressional appropriators to replace that money because we weren’t expecting the restoration funding to supplement the corp’s budget." Posted 12-21-09
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