Environmental Groups Join Supreme Court Fight Over Asian Carp
Some of the nation’s largest environmental groups have joined a Supreme Court battle aimed at stopping the destructive Asian carp from infesting the Great Lakes. The Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Alliance for the Great Lakes filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Friday supporting Michigan’s request that the U.S. Supreme Court reopen a nearly century-old case dealing with the diversion of water from Lake Michigan into Chicago-area canals. Those canals are providing an outlet for Asian carp to enter the Great Lakes, potentially devastating the region’s water quality and $7 billion fishing industry. Michigan and the environmental groups argue that the Supreme Court should appoint a "special master" — an expert in water law, shipping, or related fields — to decide whether to temporarily close the locks on Chicago-area canals and create an ecological separation between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins (meaning that fish and other marine life couldn’t pass from one to the other). "Having the Supreme Court available as this neutral arbiter of disputes among states would take it out of this world we’re in now where we’re being asked by the state of Illinois and the Army Corps to just trust them," said NRDC staff attorney Thom Cmar. "There are all sorts of reasons why we’re concerned we can’t simply trust them." Disputes Over Economic Impact Illinois and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have balked at the idea of temporarily closing the navigational locks while seeking a longer-term solution. They say they’re worried about the economic impact; the Chicago-area canals are an important shipping corridor for the region. But on Thursday, experts released a study showing that a temporary closure of the locks would have a much smaller economic impact than previously thought — less than $70 million annually, versus the Army Corps’ estimate of $190 million. John Taylor, an associate professor of supply chain management at Wayne State University in Detroit, and James Roach, a consultant formerly with the Michigan Department of Transportation, said lock closure would affect less than 1 percent of Chicago-area freight. They say trains and trucks could take on the cargo that needs to bypass the locks, a change that would only increase truck traffic by 10 percent. They found that waterway traffic has dropped significantly in the Chicago system (as well as nationally) in recent years, and closing the locks and transferring cargo via an expanded intermodal system would actually create more jobs than would be lost. In 2008, the Alliance for the Great Lakes released a study that found significant support among industry groups and other stakeholders for such a move. NRDC’s Cmar said the Army Corps’ $190 million estimate refers to the overall value of shipping on the Illinois River system, including the canals that connect with Lake Michigan. In reality, it is likely the river and canals could still be used for much shipping — including coal delivery to two Chicago power plants — even if locks were closed. At a February 12 public hearing in Chicago, water taxi owners, cruise boat operators, and employees of other waterway-related industries worried that their jobs would be lost if the locks are closed. But experts say closure would not necessarily mean that the waterway would be unusable. Reopening an Old Lawsuit At the Supreme Court, Michigan and its allies are seeking to revive an old lawsuit, first filed in 1929, that challenged Chicago’s right to divert water from the Great Lakes in order to send its sewage to the Mississippi River instead of into Lake Michigan. The justices ruled at the time that Chicago could continue the diversion, but the suit could be reopened if other states could prove that it caused harm. Environmental groups and Michigan officials say ecological harm is now clearly imminent, thanks to the Asian carp. Originally imported to aid aquaculture in the South and accidentally allowed into the Mississippi River, from which they’ve spread continuously upstream, Asian carp are eating machines. Weighing in at up to 100 pounds, they consume up to 40 percent of their body weight daily by filter feeding on algae. Other fish can’t compete with their appetites. Their powerful bodies can also propel the carp high out of the water; they’ve been known to injure boaters with their acrobatics. Cmar argues the invasive species threat can be carefully addressed with a "surgical" approach to "avoid and minimize impacts to commerce and wastewater." He said temporary lock closure and/or ecological separation would not necessarily mean that Chicago would have to send its sewage to the lake, which would require higher treatment standards and greater expense. "To figure it out," he said, "you need a detailed understanding of how goods move through the system and how the system functions to flush Chicago wastewater toward the Mississippi." In the meantime, Cmar said NRDC and the state of Michigan are only asking for an unbiased study on the options — "to find the most effective way to solve the problem that balances all these competing concerns."
View original here:
Environmental Groups Join Supreme Court Fight Over Asian Carp
Great Lakes’ Asian Carp Crisis Deepens
Concerns about Asian carp invading the Great Lakes have already prompted states to sue each other before the U.S. Supreme Court and led to plans for a White House summit. But those worries were ratcheted up even higher this month with the discovery of Asian carp DNA in Lake Michigan’s Calumet Harbor. The environmental DNA (known as eDNA — more on that later) had already been found in multiple spots between Lake Michigan and the electric barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal designed to block the voracious invaders and keep them from ravaging the Great Lakes’ ecosystem. With the latest discovery, environmental groups have renewed their calls to sever (ecologically speaking) the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River watershed. The two systems were linked by canal more than a century ago so that Chicago could dump its sewage, diluted with Lake Michigan water, into the Mississippi River and keep the Great Lakes clean. The most effective ecological separation, at least in the short term, would involve temporarily closing the locks between the canals and Lake Michigan and erecting barriers in other waterways without locks in order to impede the carp’s progress. In December, Michigan filed a lawsuit backed by other states demanding emergency closure of the locks until a permanent means of ecological separation can be found. Officials fear for water quality and the $7 billion Great Lakes fishing industry if the invaders reach Lake Michigan. Asian carp have damaged every U.S. waterway they’ve entered, outcompeting native species as they voraciously vacuum up plankton, and injuring boaters with their propensity for powerful leaps out of the water. But on January 19, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Michigan’s request for immediate action without explanation, leading two lawmakers from the state, Republican Congressman David Camp and Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow, to introduce the CARP ACT, which stands for Close All Routes and Prevent Asian Carp Today. It seeks the emergency closure of the locks and additional underwater barriers. The Supreme Court could still act on a broader aspect of Michigan’s request, which demands an end to the so-called "Chicago diversion" of Lake Michigan water. That suit was filed by Great Lakes states in 1922. In its decision at the time to leave the waterway intact, the Supreme Court left open the possibility that it could change its mind if the diversion were shown to cause harm. Michigan resuscitated the suit in December, in the face of strong opposition from the state of Illinois and industry groups that claim closing the canal would hamper shipping and flood control. Skeptics question whether the DNA that’s raising alarm bells could have been transported past the barrier on boats or barges or through Chicago’s sewer system. The Army Corps of Engineers has noted that no actual Asian carp have been found past the electric barrier. But scientists with the Nature Conservancy and University of Notre Dame, who developed the eDNA test, say the discovery of DNA in multiple tests means that Asian carp have indeed breached the barrier. Fish slough off DNA in scales, feces, urine, and mucus. Since last summer, scientists have taken hundreds of 2-liter water samples from the canals, rivers, and harbors connected to Lake Michigan. They can amplify bits of DNA taken from the biological material in the water samples and compare them with Asian carp DNA. David Lodge, the director of Notre Dame’s Center for Aquatic Conservation, says scienctists don’t know how long the DNA stays in water, and the tests can’t tell them how many fish might be in a particular lake or river. "It’s a pretty blunt instrument at the moment," Lodge says. "All it tells us is there were fish here." In the case of the Great Lakes, even that small indication is enough to make officials sweat. The Asian carp crisis has now made it all the way to the Oval Office (which is currently occupied by a Chicagoan, after all). President Obama’s top environmental advisor recently proposed an "Asian carp" summit with Great Lakes governors in early February, and state attorneys general are demanding invitations. The White House has called Asian carp a serious threat — but so far has supported Illinois in the dispute. Closing all of the Chicago-area locks would entail cooperation from the federal Army Corps of Engineers, as well as state and municipal governments. NRDC Midwest program director Henry Henderson said policymakers should take this opportunity to re-engineer an outdated shipping system that is economically inefficient and environmentally dangerous. NRDC recommends replacing the canals with a new intermodal facility that would transfer cargo from barges and ships to trucks, trains and other barges. "Looking at Asian carp as the problem instead of the alarm bell unnecessarily truncates the solution," Henderson said. "It’s not like two species of Asian carp are the problem — this 19th century canal system has been revealed to be unambiguously a highway for invasive species."
Continue here:
Great Lakes’ Asian Carp Crisis Deepens
‘Missile with Fins’ Aimed at Great Lakes
In 1900, the city of Chicago had a problem: how to get rid of all the sewage it was dumping into Lake Michigan, which also provided the city’s drinking water. The solution was to build the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to divert wastewater away from the lakes, a move that famously reversed the flow of the Chicago River and created the first and only canal connecting the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River.
And therein lies the problem. More than a century later, that canal threatens to deliver an even greater evil to the Great Lakes. It’s so bad that officials temporarily poisoned the waters of the canal earlier this month, making it inhospitable to aquatic life — with the support of environmentalists, no less.
Meanwhile, the federal government has ponied up millions of dollars to ward off this potential intruder, and the state of Michigan is preparing to sue neighboring Illinois to close the canal for good.
All because of a fish.
Not just any fish, though. This is the Asian carp, weighing in at up to 100 pounds, with an appetite so voracious that it out-eats most native fish and disrupts the food web wherever it goes. It has been working its way up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers for more than a decade now, making a name for itself by leaping out of the water and colliding with unsuspecting boaters.
It’s been called a "missile with fins."
The fear is that the carp will transform the Great Lakes ecosystem into something unrecognizable. One need only look at infested sections of the Illinois River, where federal environmental officials say that carp now comprise nine out of every 10 pounds of living material — plant or animal — found in the water. An invasion could devastate the Great Lakes’ $7 billion fishing industry and harm the drinking water supply relied on by 40 billion people.
"Sooner or later, those carp are going to find a breeding home" in Lake Michigan, said Joel Brammeier, acting president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a Chicago advocacy group. "And once that happens, there’s going to be no stopping the Asian carp in the Great Lakes."
For many, this feels like déjà vu. Lake Michigan has been overrun by invasive species before — most notably the zebra and quagga mussels. The mussels have filter-fed the lake to the point where its waters are remarkably clear. This allows sunlight to penetrate far deeper than before, which causes large algae blooms. Beyond altering the lake’s ecosystem, this creates lush habitat for toxins such as E. coli.
Because the carp also filter feed — up to 40 percent of their body weight daily — there’s concern that their arrival would speed this change along. Currently, invasive species in the Great Lakes are estimated to cost the region $200 million a year in lost commercial and recreational fishing revenue and in repairs to water-intake systems, which get clogged by invasive mussels.
A single, electrified barrier, nicknamed the "fish fence," is all that separates the carp-infested Illinois River from the lakes. If that barrier needs to be shut down for maintenance — and occasionally, it does — there’s nothing to stop the intruders from making their way into the lakes.
So out of utter desperation, the canal was poisoned earlier this month while the fence was out of action. About 20 miles from Lake Michigan, a 5.5-mile stretch of water between the barrier and a lock leading into the lake was treated with rotenone, a fish poison, to kill any Asian carp lurking there — along with any other varieties of native fish unlucky enough to be swimming nearby.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources said the state and federal agencies involved spent $3.1 million on the project. It estimates that the chemical killed about 200,000 pounds of fish, of which only one turned out to be an Asian carp.
Officials and environmentalists were relieved that large numbers of carp weren’t found past the barrier — but even just one proves that they’re perilously close to the lake.
This wasn’t the first sign that carp might have swum beyond the fence. The Army Corps of Engineers has been conducting DNA tests in the water past the barrier. Testing this fall showed snippets of Asian carp just eight miles from the lake.
It wasn’t even a whole fish, just some biological material, but it was enough to raise the threat level — especially when the fish fence needed to come down for maintenance this month. Many environmental groups, who normally wouldn’t cheer a plan to dump poison into the water, supported the action.
"No one wants to see that," said Thom Cmar, a Chicago-based attorney with NRDC. But "the alternative is far worse."
The federal government agrees. This week, it announced that it would devote $13 million to fight the carp invasion. Most of the money will fund the Army Corps of Engineers, which is trying to cut off potential backdoor routes between the canal and the lake (such as heavy rains causing flooding that would sweep the fish into other waterways). The money will also be used to expand DNA testing as an early warning system.
As with most battles against invasive species, this situation is one of man’s own making. The carp were imported to the South in the 1970s for aquaculture and wastewater treatment facilities. Their job was to keep retention ponds clean through their voracious appetites. But they escaped into the Mississippi River during flooding in the 90s and have been swimming steadily upstream ever since.
The only real solution to stopping the carp’s spread, according to the state of Michigan and environmental groups, is to port a cork in the connection between the Mississippi and the Great Lakes built more than a century ago.
"The end point clearly needs to be biological separation," said Marc Gaden, spokesman for the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in Ann Arbor, Mich., which focuses on protecting the lakes’ fishing industry. That means finding a way that commerce between the rivers and lakes could continue — but with sufficient measures in place to ensure that one ecosystem couldn’t contaminate the other.
A spokeswoman for the Army Corps of Engineers said all options are being explored to determine the best way to fight the carp. But various local and federal agencies in change of the waterways have set no timeline to come up with a decision. Advocates are growing frustrated with the government’s deliberations in the face of what they see as an immediate threat to the lakes and the region’s quality of life. "We’ve already had lots of time to look at the issues," wrote Henry Henderson, director of NRDC’s Midwest office, in a recent blog post . "This has been a slow-motion tragedy that requires emergency action now to buy us the time we need to solve this problem effectively."
NRDC and other environmental groups want to see the locks on the canal closed as a first step toward stopping the current threat. The Michigan attorney general’s office has already announced its intention to sue the Army Corps of Engineers, the state of Illinois, and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to force the cutoff.
According to NRDC’s Cmar, new technologies could end the city’s reliance on the canal for its wastewater needs. But that still leaves the question of shipping; the canal has become an important conduit between the lakes and the Mississippi.
Cmar says the government could start creating intermodal facilities that would transfer cargo to trains or trucks, connecting the river with the rest of Chicago’s vast transportation network while bypassing or greatly reducing the burden on the canal.
"It doesn’t make sense for Chicago to still be relying on 19th century solutions," he said. Especially not when a 21st century invader is posing one of the most serious natural threats in the city’s history.
More here: ‘Missile with Fins’ Aimed at Great Lakes