Six states, including Ohio, are asking other states to help lobby for a permanent barrier to halt the spread of Asian carp and other invasive species between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.
The letter was sent yesterday to attorneys general in 27 states and signed by Attorney General Mike DeWine, who said the issue is “vital” not only to the Great Lakes but also states from as far east as North Carolina and as far west as California.
Attorneys general from the Great Lakes region are hoping support from other states will pressure the federal government to stop the spread of invasive species through Chicago-area shipping canals that link the Great Lakes and Mississippi drainage basins.
“We must halt the progress of aquatic invasive species across this country,” said DeWine, pointing out that Lake Erie is susceptible.
Asian carp, invasive fish with voracious appetites that thrive in rivers, are feared because they could damage the Great Lakes ecosystem and destroy the region’s $7 billion sport-fishing industry.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has built an electric barrier to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes while it studies options. But Ohio and other Great Lakes states want the agency to speed up the study — due in 2015 — and permanently “sever” the ecological connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi.
One option could be sealing off the canals and re-reversing the flow of the Chicago River back into Lake Michigan, as it did more than 100 years ago. Yet businesses that use the canals to ships goods say closing locks or permanently separating the waterways would cripple the region’s economy.
Any of the 27 states interested in joining the cause would sign a letter to congressional leaders. They would not have to join a lawsuit filed by Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Courts have rejected those states’ efforts to temporarily close shipping locks on Chicago-area waterways. The legal fight is not over, however, and legislation backed by Great Lakes states is pending in Congress.
DeWine said a recent Army Corps of Engineers study identified the Chicago Area Waterway System as the major pathway for the spread of invasive species. Of 40 aquatic species with the highest risk of traveling through the canals, 30 are considered high-risk to the Mississippi River basin and 10 to the Great Lakes basin.