Mich. legislators urge quick action after Asian carp find

June 24, 2010

From © the Detroit News

by Nathan Hurst

Washington -- Michigan legislators are taking a multi-pronged approach to prompt federal authorities to act quickly in response to Wednesday's find of a live, 20-pound Asian carp in Lake Calumet near Chicago.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, said she is lobbying agency heads throughout Washington to get immediate action to keep the invasive carp from reaching Lake Michigan, where environmental experts say the hungry fish could quickly wreck native fish populations. The carp, which have migrated northward through the Mississippi River since escaping from southern fish farms in the 1990s, have big appetites and the ability to quickly clean out food sources for native species.

Stabenow said she's asked Illinois officials to close the locks and canals connecting Lake Michigan to Lake Calumet and the Mississippi River basin. She's also asking for the water to be poisoned where the carp was found to kill any others that might be nearby.

"This is a tremendous concern and creates a tremendous urgency to act in a number of ways," Stabenow said in a conference call with reporters.

She and other legislators are working to get action on the CARP Act, introduced earlier this year by Stabenow and Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland.

The bipartisan bill -- whose acronym stands for Close All Routes and Prevent Asian Carp Today -- orders the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to immediately close the Chicago-area locks and canals until a permanent separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds is in place.

Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint, urged passage of the bill today, saying in a press release, "We must act quickly, or risk the destruction of the Great Lakes ecosystem and the countless industries and communities that rely upon the resources provided by these great bodies of water."

Chicago-area business and shipping organizations have opposed closure of the locks, saying doing so would irreparably harm the region's economy.

But in the call with reporters, Stabenow said she will keep the pressure on the Army Corps to close the locks, a request that was denied this year by the White House. The U.S. Supreme Court twice denied requests by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox to seek emergency closure of the locks.

She also said her staff is working on additional legislation that would order the Army Corps to accelerate its timetable for devising a permanent solution and require it to be built immediately.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, said late Wednesday he'll be keeping pressure on federal authorities to act soon, as well.

"Federal agencies have repeatedly told us they have the funding and the authority to prevent migration into the lakes," he said in a statement. "It is overdue that they fully use it."

nhurst@detnews.com (202) 662-8738

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100624/POLITICS03/6240450/1361/Mich.-legislators-urge-quick-action-after-Asian-carp-find#ixzz0rtfbtXgF