Over the past several months, we have posted updates about the Lake Michigan Asian carp dispute. This week, five states – Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants have created a public nuisance by operating infrastructure through which the Asian carp could enter the Great Lakes, and also requests that the court order the closing of the locks between the Chicago-area waterways and Lake Michigan.
In addition to the lawsuit, various members of Congress from the affected states have been working to find a solution. Michigan and Illinois lawmakers agree that it is necessary to permanently separate the Mississippi River watershed from the Great Lakes watershed, but have not yet reached an agreement on the specific methodology, or even on short-term solutions to be implemented before the permanent solution is put in place. Illinois lawmakers seem to be more concerned about protecting the shipping industry in Chicago than in protecting Lake Michigan from ecological destruction.
Even this action could be too late to fully protect Lake Michigan, as a 20-pound Asian carp was found in Lake Calumet, south of Chicago, in June. Lake Calumet is 6 miles beyond an electronic barrier that was set up in Chicago waterways to prevent Asian carp from getting to Lake Michigan.
Besides the threat to Lake Michigan, there is now a concern that Asian carp could also enter Lake Erie, through rivers in Indiana and Ohio. Asian carp are already present in the Wabash River in Indiana, which connects via marshlands and floodwaters with the Maumee River in Ohio. The Maumee River connects to Lake Erie. Earlier this month, Indiana placed mesh fences in marshes between the two rivers to attempt to keep Asian carp out of the Maumee River.
Stay tuned for further updates. Also, see these articles in The Detroit News for more information: http://bit.ly/bPaiaA, http://bit.ly/bqt8dU, http://bit.ly/brspfu, http://bit.ly/amEzQb, and http://bit.ly/bVObfQ.
Click on the following for links to the first article on the dispute, the second article, and the third article.
This article was written by Melissa L. Demorest, Associate at Demorest Law Firm.
I think it’s important for people to see that there are other ways to stop these carp without shutting down the locks. The fact that they’ve only found one fish so far means that the electronic barriers are working pretty well. Why not increase the types of enforcement they’ve been employing so far, instead of closing the locks and killing industry that transports good through them?