Battle Cry: Close the Locks or Face Michigan in Court

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has called on her Attorney General Mike Cox to “vigorously pursue every legal tool at your disposal” to stop the Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes ecosystem. Grahnolm is demanding that the locks be closed and later the Great Lakes be permanently separated from the Mississippi River system. We agree and signed onto a letter with several other conservation groups supporting Granholm’s recommendations. Cox has already reacted to the Governor’s letter threatening legal action if something isn’t done soon.

“Faced with this urgent threat to our environment and our economy, we support Michigan using every arrow in its quiver to stop the Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes,” said Erin McDonough, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

Conservation groups, in a separate letter to Attorney General Cox, stated: “[W]e support Governor Granholm’s request that you take legal action to close, at least temporarily, all Illinois locks providing access to Lake Michigan until the state of Illinois and federal agencies can demonstrate that Asian carp will not swim into Lake Michigan.”

The call for legal action comes nearly two weeks after conservation groups asked state and federal authorities to immediately close navigational locks in response to new DNA data indicating that the invasive Asian carp had breached an electric fence and were only miles from Lake Michigan. No action has been taken to close the locks—the last barriers between the invasive fish and Lake Michigan.

Cox wrote the US Army Corps of Engineers and asked them to inform him immediately of the actions they plan to take and threatened further legal action, “Absent assurance that immediate action will be taken, I will be forced to consider all available legal remedies to protect the citizens of the State of Michigan and their greatest natural resource.”

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources held a press conference today announcing the start the Rapid Response Project. They are closing off the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal beginning today and for the next four or five day so that they can poison the fish in the waters leading up to the Lockport Lock and Dam.

The Great Lakes Congressional Task Force is putting together a letter supporting any recommendations that the Rapid Response team comes up with and emphasizing the need for speed.

“This is a five-alarm emergency, and the government agencies need to treat it that way,” said Andy Buchsbaum, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Regional Center. “News that carp DNA has breached the barrier is a game-changer and our strategy needs to change with it. That means closing the locks immediately so that we cut off the carp from the Great Lakes.”

• Posted by Tiffany Danitz Pache on December 2nd, 2009
• Tags: Andy Buchsbaum, Asian-Carp, Asian-carp-Barrier, Atty General Mike Cox, Conservation Groups, Erin McDonough, Illinios, Jeff-Skelding, Jennifer-Granholm, Michigan, Michigan United, National Wildlife Federation, US Army Corps of Engineers
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