Asian carp

Michigan Messenger on EPA’s Draft Asian Carp Strategy

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From MM:

A $78.5 million dollar federal plan to keep Asian carp from becoming established in the Great Lakes is drawing criticism from diverse groups that say the proposed temporary closure of the locks in Chicago area canals will disrupt the economy without stopping the spread of aquatic invaders.

The Chicago canal system that connects the Mississippi River system to the Great Lakes basin conveys much of the Chicago region’s petroleum, coal, road salt, cement, and iron, according to federal officials, along with 15,000 recreational boats and 900,000 passengers that travel through the locks on the system each year.

Photo via Flickr: kate.gardiner

Continue reading →

House Transportation Committee Hearing Video and Testimony on Asian Carp

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Asian Carp and the Great Lakes

Purpose of the Hearing

The Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment met on Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at 2:00 p.m., in room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building to receive testimony on the issue of preventing the induction of the aquatic invasive species, the Asian carp, into the Great Lakes.

Full Summary of Subject Matter

Video of the Hearing

Written Testimony:

Mr. Cameron Davis
Major General John W. Peabody
Mr. John Rogner
Ms. Rebecca Humphries
Mr. Matt Frank
Prof. David Lodge
Dr. Michael Hansen
Mr. Del Wilkins
Mr. Joel Brammeier

WSJ Article on Asian Carp Issue

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the WSJ via How Appealing:

[SEPARATE]

More than a century ago, this city reversed the flow of its eponymous river, connecting the Great Lakes with the Gulf of Mexico and defining itself as the can-do capital of the American heartland.

Today, that engineering feat is coming under growing scrutiny, as scientists and politicians intensify their battle against a voracious flying fish that has been traveling up the Mississippi for 20 years. Amid signs that Asian carp have breached the last defensive barrier, calls are mounting for a massive do-over.

“We know these barriers aren’t working,” said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes and the lead author of a 2008 report that laid out how this project might look. “An ecological separation is the only permanent solution.”

Continue reading →

Additional News Coverage of Asian Carp Debacle

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From How Appealing:

“Asian carp DNA found in Lake Michigan; High Court inaction angers Mich. leaders”:The Detroit News has an update that begins, “On the same day the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would not take immediate action to prevent Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan, DNA samples indicate the fish may already be there.”

The Detroit Free Press has a news update headlined “Granholm: White House summit about carp needed.”

The Chicago Tribune has a news update headlined “Army Corps: Asian carp DNA found in Lake Michigan.”

And James Vicini of Reuters reports that “Michigan request denied in Great Lakes carp case; High court won’t order closing of two Chicago-area locks; Federal government said Michigan was unlikely to prevail; Closing locks would hurt shippers.”

AP Article on Asian Carp Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the AP via How Appealing:

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to order immediate closure of shipping locks near Chicago to prevent Asian carp from infesting the Great Lakes.

The court rejected a request by Michigan for a preliminary injunction to close the locks temporarily while a long-term solution is sought to the threatened invasion by the ravenous fish. The one-sentence ruling didn’t explain the court’s reasoning.

Asian carp, primarily bighead and silver varieties, have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers toward the Great Lakes for decades. They have swarmed waterways near Chicago leading to Lake Michigan.

Scientists fear that if they reach the lakes, they could disrupt the food chain and endanger the $7 billion fishery.

The biggest Asian carp can reach 4 feet in length and weigh 100 pounds while consuming up to 40 percent of their body weight daily in plankton, the foundation of the Great Lakes food web.

Many scientists say they could starve out popular species such as trout and salmon.

They also are spooked by passing motors and often hurtle from the water, colliding with boaters forcefully enough to break bones.

Officials poisoned a section of the canal in December after discovering genetic material that suggested at least some carp might have eluded an electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and could be within six miles of Lake Michigan. If so, the only other obstacles between them and the lake are shipping locks and gates.

Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said additional carp DNA – but no live fish – had been found in three different spots along the Chicago River within a mile of where it flows into Lake Michigan.

Michigan, joined by Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin and the Canadian province of Ontario, asked the high court to order the locks closed as a stopgap measure while considering a permanent separation between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River basin. Continue reading →

Asian Carp Plea Denied

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From SCOTUSblog:

The Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to order emergency measures sought by the state of Michigan to stop the migration of an invasive fish species, Asian carp, toward Lake Michigan from rivers and a sanitary canal in Illinois.  Without comment, the Court refused to issue a permanent injunction that would have closed waterway locks and required other temporary measures in reaction to the discovery of the carp upstream in Illinois rivers.  The Court’s order did not dispose of Michigan’s plea to reopen a decades-old decree to address the carp migration issue on its merits. That will come later in cases 1, 2 and 3 Original, Wisconsin, Michigan and New York v. Illinois.

News Coverage Update on Asian Carp Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From How Appealing:

“Something’s Fishy at the High Court”: Tony Mauro of The National Law Journal has this report.

And last Sunday’s edition of The Chicago Tribune contained an article headlined “Asian carp: Take that carp and fry it; River invader is more tasty morsel than maligned in some quarters.”

News Coverage of Asian Carp Case

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From SCOTUSblog:

Following an editorial yesterday decrying the recent suit filed against the State of Illinois by the State of Michigan, the Chicago Tribune has a news story on recent fillings questioning the science behind Michigan’s claim that carp emerging through locks from Illinois waters could endanger the local fish.  The filings, in defense of Illinois, come from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  UPI reports that the Obama Administration has come out in favor of Illinois as well, while the Christian Science Monitor has Michigan’s side of the story.

US Opposes Michigan’s Bid to Close Chicago Canal in SCT

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From SCOTUSBlog:

The federal government, saying that it, too, is worried about an invasive species of fish making its way into Lake Michigan and is doing something about it, urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to turn down the state of Michigan’s new plea for major Court-ordered steps to head off that migration.  It also implied that the Court should not allow Michigan to go ahead with its underlying lawsuit in the Court against Illinois and others, arguing that the proper place for the dispute is in a lower federal court, if anywhere.  The new federal document can be found here.

Continue reading →

Filings in Michigan Asian Carp Suit

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From SCOTUSBlog:

In a new phase of the decades-long feud over the environmental health of the Great Lakes, Michigan has sued Illinois directly in the Supreme Court, this time over Michigan’s worries about the invasion of a fish species threatening to local fish populations.  As an Original lawsuit, the case will be tried directly in the Supreme Court, if the Justices agree to let Michigan file its complaint.  (News articles describing the lawsuit are linked in the blog’s Tuesday Roundup, see below.)

Here is the question presented in the lawsuit:  “Whether, because of changed circumstances, the Court should reopen Nos. 1, 2, and 3, Original, to consider Michigan’s request for a Sujpplemental Decree to address a new and substantial infringement of Michigan’s rights — the threatened invasion of the Gr;eat Lakes by injurious fish species — resulting from the Lake Michigan diversion project created and as now maintained by Illinois, the [Metropolitan Water Recalamation District of Greater Chicago] District, and the {U.S. Army} Corps {of Engineers] that is the subject of this case.”

A fact sheet describing the background of the new fish controversy ishere. A news release from the Michigan attorney general’s office is here.  The text of a motion for a preliminary injunction is here The lawsuit itself — technically, a motion to reopen a 1980 Supreme Court decree and to issue a new ruling on the fish mgiration question – can be found here. A 142-page appendix is here.