This is a real problem. The Great Lakes ecosystem already took it on the
chin because of the St. Lawrence Seaway that brought the Lamprey eel and the
alewife. The lamprey (and the aggressive fishing industry) wiped out the
lake trout (Mackinaw). An aggressive lamprey eradication effort finally
succeed in getting the eel in check, but in the meantime, with no
significant lake trout predator, the small alewife (small fish with a big
belly) took over, leaving the beautiful beaches covered inches deep in dead
and reeking alewifes. This was counteracted by the successful introduction
of the Coho Salmon. Now, the alewife problem is under control, but the
ecosystem is far from what it was. I don't blame Michigan for being
nervous, and litigious if necessary.
Chris
------------------------------------------
Christopher P. Hahn, Ph.D.
Constructive Agreement, LLC
<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]
P.O. Box 39, Bozeman, MT 59771
(406) 522-4143 (406) 556-7116 fax
------------------------------------------
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2011 1:33 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: [RC] Great Lakes Crisis -- politicians can't agree on best course
of action
NY Times
What to Do About Asian Carp? Great Lakes States Can't Agree
By
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/monica_davey/i
ndex.html?inline=nyt-per> MONICA DAVEY
Published: December 20, 2011
CHICAGO - The leaders of the Great Lakes states had come to a moment of
calm, glassy waters. It was 2008, and after years of negotiation,
politicians in the eight states around the lakes had reached agreement on a
compact <http://www.greatlakes.org/Page.aspx?pid=526> that would protect
their (and their Canadian counterparts') precious fresh water from what they
saw as one of the Midwest's biggest threats: tapping from other,
water-hungry regions.
But a different threat soon broke the peace. Tests began indicating that
genetic material from Asian carp <http://asiancarp.us/> , a nonnative,
voracious fish with the potential to upend the lakes' ecosystem, had been
discovered in the major waterway system leading to Lake Michigan. Last year,
fears grew worse: A 19.6-pound bighead carp was captured there not far from
the lake - beyond an elaborate electric fence that had been built to prevent
just such an outcome.
The states have split. Some, led by water-ringed Michigan, have filed legal
actions aimed at ending access from the nearby tributaries of the
Mississippi River
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessio
ns/mississippi-river/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> , where Asian carp already
are flourishing, to the Great Lakes. Others, including Illinois, have
objected, saying any such closing would interfere with Chicago's ability to
control flooding as well as with the commercial barges that haul sand, coal
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/coal/index.h
tml?inline=nyt-classifier> , cement and salt through the waterway.
In the eyes of some, the fierce debate has shouldered out discussion of
other pressing concerns on the Great Lakes: pollution, repair of harbors,
restoration of wetlands and even an early test of the compact, expected in
the coming months, about whether to divert water
<http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/dwg/waukeshadiversionapp.htm> to a city not on
the lakefront, Waukesha, Wis.
"It's unquestionable that the Asian carp challenge and issue has probably
gobbled up 90 percent of the attention of the Great Lakes challenges, and
other matters probably have not gotten as much national attention," said Pat
Quinn
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/q/patrick_j_quin
n/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=Patrick%20J.%20Quinn&st=cse> , the governor of
Illinois and the co-chairman of the Council of Great Lakes Governors
<http://www.cglg.org/> , one of many groups representing interests of the
lakes. "Locally, in the Great Lakes states, almost any conversation about
the Great Lakes begins with the Asian carp, ends with the Asian carp."
For at least a decade, people in the Midwest have worried about the arrival
of Asian carp, which was first imported to the United States in the 1970s to
help fish farmers in the South clean up their algae-filled ponds. Two types,
the bighead and silver carp, are viewed as such ravenous eaters that many
feared they would travel up the Mississippi River and through the waterway
system that leads to Lake Michigan, where they could wreak havoc with the
lake's ecosystem and fishing industry, then spread through the other Great
Lakes.
The concerns were quieted, at least for a time, by an elaborate
multimillion-dollar electric fence system the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
built in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which links the Great Lakes to
the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Some officials say the barriers
(combined with intensive carp-fishing efforts farther south) have kept the
carp from making their way north into the Great Lakes. But others were
alarmed by the recent DNA tests of water samples that detected genetic
material of Asian carp (results that have themselves been the subject of a
debate over their true significance) beyond the barriers.
"This is what boggles the mind here: We can send a man to the moon but we
can't stop a carp from reaching the Great Lakes?" said Bill Schuette
<http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-164-19441-248720%20-%20,00.html> , the
attorney general of Michigan, which has led a legal and political fight to
close locks that allow water to flow between the Mississippi River and the
Great Lakes and, ultimately, to separate those two water systems entirely.
Historians say early travelers were sometimes able to make their way between
the lakes and the river in the wet season, but a canal, built more than 100
years ago, made permanent the link between the two water systems.
A lawsuit filed by Michigan and four other Great Lakes states against the
Chicago water authorities and others is making its way through the legal
system. And Mr. Schuette has collected signatures from 17 attorneys general,
including some from other parts of the country (though not Illinois or
Indiana) urging members of Congress to require the Army Corps of Engineers
to expedite a study it is conducting of the entire Asian carp issue.
"Their failure and lack of responsibility is the sorriest thing I've ever
seen," Mr. Schuette said of the Army Corps, which has said it may need until
2015 to finish its study. "They have failed on the job."
For its part, the Corps says its study must proceed carefully and
thoroughly, looking at whether measures like electric fences and chemicals
can successfully hold off invasive species
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/invasive_species/index.ht
ml?inline=nyt-classifier> . If authorities were to decide on the far more
drastic option - to separate the water basins from each other - that could,
by some estimates, take years, cost billions, and require an engineering
feat comparable to the one more than a century ago that reversed the flow of
the Chicago River.
Some lake advocates and states like Michigan see this as the only eventual
option, while some in Chicago, Illinois and Indiana, which depend on the
current alignment as a way to manage floodwaters during heavy rains and
storms, sound more circumspect.
"This is a humongous decision," said Dave Wethington, the project manager
for the Army Corps in Chicago. "We must remain unbiased. We are the stewards
of the tax dollars," he said, later adding, "Trying to make a decision of
this magnitude is one of the best times to have an established process."
Meanwhile, among the many groups focused on interests of the Great Lakes,
some say the Asian carp issue has not caused so much strife between the
states as to slow progress on other matters. Talks, they say, have mostly
remained civil. "I think that there was a real concern that it might lead to
a fundamental breakdown in cooperation, but that hasn't been the case," said
David Naftzger, the executive director of the Great Lakes governors.
In fact, some here see other opportunities hidden away in the race to solve
the Asian carp threat - perhaps a remade, more attractive and cleaner
Chicago River; a reinvented route for commercial barge products headed from
or to the South; long-needed fixes to the region's flooding measures.
Still, the tensions loom. "We understand these other states, especially
Michigan, are in a litigious mood and are involved in filing litigation, but
they have to deal with real-life consequences," Governor Quinn said. "When
they say shut down the locks, you could have in the biggest metropolitan
area in the entire Great Lakes region massive flooding."
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
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--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
