The Supreme Court kept the locks on the Chicago Shipping and Sanitary Canal open, thwarting several states that wanted them closed in a bid to keep the Asian Carp from the Great Lakes.
The Supreme Court kept the locks on the Chicago Shipping and Sanitary Canal open, thwarting several states that wanted them closed in a bid to keep the Asian Carp from the Great Lakes.
The Supreme Court refused the request of several states to close the shipping locks on the Chicago Shipping and Sanitary Canal, which connects to the Chicago River and ultimately Lake Michigan ,in an effort to stop the advance of the Asian Carp, a particularly rapacious invasive fish species into the Great Lakes.
As NPR's Nina Totenberg reported for the network's newscast:
The state of Michigan, joined by by New York, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and the Canadian province of Ontario, sought a court order closing the Chicago River locks to block a feared invasion of carp.
The ravenous fish have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers for decades and have recently swarmed waterways near Chicago leading to Lake Michigan. Scientists fear that the giant fish, which weigh as much as 100 pounds, would jeopardize the food chain if they reach the great lakes and endanger the lakes $7 billion dollar fishery.
But closing the Illinois locks would block a major national shipping artery.
Nina goes on to say that the court's action:
... Likely means that the shipping and fishing industries and the states will step up negotiations over what to do to prevent a giant carp infestation.
Update 4:48 pm ET — Looks like the Supreme Court's decision could already be moot. From the Chicago Tribune:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has more evidence indicating the dreaded Asian carp is in Lake Michigan, making the announcement hours after the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to force Illinois to do more to keep the fish out of the lake.
The Corps says researchers combing the Calumet Harbor near Lake Michigan for the presence of Asian carp have found two DNA samples that seem to indicate the invasive fish has already breached the lake near Chicago.
One sample was in Calumet Harbor a half-mile north of the Calumet River; the other was in the Calumet River north of the O'Brien Lock. Both samples were collected Dec. 8. The agency said that two earlier tests in the area didn't show carp DNA.
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