Congress, the federal courts and even the White House must take immediate action to force a reluctant U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to close shipping locks and canals near Chicago that could provide a pathway for the Asian Carp to enter Lake Michigan.
Something must happen, and now -- not next week, not next month; today.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court Monday saying the ravenous carp would threaten thousands of jobs if they get into the lakes and asking the court to order closure of shipping locks near Chicago.
Recent DNA sampling suggests at least some carp may have already gotten past an electrical barrier on the ship canal designed to halt their advance, and could be within six miles of the lake.
Scientists say if they reach the lakes and multiply, they could disrupt the food chain -- as other foreign species have already done over the years -- decimating popular sport and commercial varieties such as salmon and whitefish.
For nearly 40 years the people whose job it is to help protect the nation's water heritage have watched the bighead and silver carp spread northward since they escaped from fish farms and sewage lagoons in the Deep South in the 1970s; in all that time they have done virtually nothing to stop them.
It took years for the Army Corps to erect an electrical barrier on the ship canal outside Chicago; they put up a more powerful one this year. Incredibly, however, the Corps now says it has never operated either barrier at full power because it worried about effects on nearby barges.
With all due respect, who gives two hoots what might happen to a few barges? We're talking about an assault on the $7 billion Great Lakes sportfishing industry and these people are worried about a few barges? That's almost criminal.
Adding insult to injury, Army Corps officials told U.S. Rep. Dave Camp last week that the Corps needs $13.5 million during the 2010 fiscal year to take immediate measures to halt the carp.
This is nothing new to those of us who live on the Great Lakes. The Corps, the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency have for years kowtowed to business interests who didn't want to bear the cost of eradicating invasive species from ballast tanks of oceangoing ships that enter the lakes system.
Even today, methods to do that job are still not on line.
President Barak Obama spent most of his adult life in Chicago and must understand the threat the carp represent. If all else fails, politicians from across the Great Lakes basin must demand immediate action from the White House. This is a national crisis; the time to resolve it is now.
