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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Environment - "Michigan asks U.S. Supreme Court to close shipping locks near Chicago to prevent Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes"

Here is the AP story by John Flesher in today's South Bend Tribune. From the story:

State Attorney General Mike Cox filed a lawsuit Monday with the nation's highest court against Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. They operate canals and other waterways that open into Lake Michigan.

Bighead and silver carp from Asia have been detected in those waterways after migrating north in the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for decades.

Officials poisoned a section of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal this month to prevent the carp from getting closer to Lake Michigan while an electrical barrier was taken down for maintenance.

But scientists say DNA found north of the barrier suggest at least some of the carp have gotten through and may be within six miles of Lake Michigan.

If so, the only other obstacle between them and the lake are shipping locks, which open frequently to grant passage for cargo vessels. * * *

Cox went directly to the Supreme Court because it handles disputes between states.

Michigan is seeking to reopen a case dating back more than a century, when Missouri filed suit after Chicago reversed the flow of the Chicago River and began sending sewage-fouled Lake Michigan water south toward the Mississippi River.

After that issue was resolved, several Great Lakes states — including Michigan — renewed the suit with a new complaint: Chicago's diversion of water away from the basin was harming the lakes by lowering water levels.

The high court has ruled on the matter numerous times, setting ceilings on the amount of Lake Michigan water Chicago could divert. The present limit is 2.1 billion gallons per day.

Michigan's suit argues that continued operation of the locks represents another potential injury to the lakes. It asks the court to immediately order them closed, and to create new barriers to prevent the carp from entering the ship canal from nearby waterways during floods. * * *

Noah Hall, an assistant professor at Wayne State University's law school, said Michigan has a good chance of prevailing if it can show the potential harm posed by Asian carp would outweigh the benefits of keeping the locks open.

"The carp invasion is a good textbook example of irreparable harm," Hall said. * * *

Environmentalists said closing the locks would be a temporary fix, but the only long-term solution would be restoring the natural separation between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River system.

"The Chicago diversion was a 19th century solution to an environmental problem. Now it's causing a 21st century emergency," said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes center.

The Detroit Free Press had this lengthy story yesterday, reported by Terry Stables Battaglia. Some quotes:
Cox’s suit targets the state of Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. The goal is to have officials there close off five river entrances to Lake Michigan, including:

• Closure of the locks at the O’Brien Lock and Dam and the Chicago Controlling Works;

• Operation of the sluice gates at the Wilmette Pumping Station, the O’Brien Lock and Dam, and the Chicago Controlling Works in a manner that will prevent carp from passing into Lake Michigan;

• Creation of new barriers to prevent carp from escaping from the Des Plaines River into the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal during flood events, and from getting to Lake Michigan through the Grand and Little Calumet Rivers;

• A comprehensive study of the Chicago waterway system to define where and how many carp are in these waters, and to eradicate them, and

• Action to permanently separate these waterways from the Great Lakes. * * *

Joel Brammeier, acting president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes in Chicago, who studied blocking the canal, applauded Cox’s move today.

“The reality we’re facing is we’ve got carp DNA 6 miles from Lake Michigan and no plan to keep them out,” Brammeier said. “As long as we believe this barrier has been breached, we have to take every precaution until we know those canals are free from carp.”

The canal, built in steps between 1892 and 1922, is credited with making Chicago a major economic power. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and its related branches link Lake Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River basin.

Members of the American Waterways Operators, who oppose any move to close the locks — even temporarily — say the move would have drastic financial consequences, because they would have to offload cargo, like coal and gravel, to trucks or railcars at some point along the canal, potentially adding millions to the cost of moving goods and commodities.

They argue that moving goods on barges through the canals and locks is the most economical method, saves wear and congestion on the nation's roads and is less polluting than trucks or rail cars.

Cox said a review by his office determined the canal closures’ effect on barge traffic would be “minimal” compared with an Asian carp invasion of the Great Lakes.

Brammeier’s study concluded that no technology, including the electric barrier currently in place in the canal, will be 100% effective at keeping invasive species out. And the only way to be sure no carp enter the Great Lakes is to completely close off Lake Michigan from the canals and locks.

The most effective closure would be at Lockport, about 28 miles south of downtown Chicago, he said. But that also would disrupt barge traffic the most, the study said.

Cox said the suit aims to protect the Michigan economy.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has itself admitted allowing Asian carp into the Great Lakes would be an ‘ecological and economic disaster,’ " said Cox. "Michigan families whose jobs and way of life depend on the health of the Great Lakes deserve to know there is a long-term solution to this crisis.”

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 22, 2009 09:05 AM
Posted to Environment