Call it a "hostile takeover" or a "slow-motion disaster," but, either way, the threat the Asian carp poses to the Great Lakes is real and growing.
And we discover today we’re not going to receive much help from the White House.
Much more on the jump.
Those of us who live in the region and care about the health of the Great Lakes have known for a long time about the threat these voracious invaders pose to our waters. These ravenous and prolific fish, which can grow to 4 feet long and weigh in at 100 pounds, are capable of destroying whole eco-systems on a scale that makes the zebra mussel’s recent residence here seem like a visit from a quirky uncle.
Washington has known about the threat, too, but, across numerous administrations, has been slow to act. For the better part of two decades, Asian carp have been making their way up the Mississippi River basin and into the Illinois River. And that brings it perilously close to the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal that connects the river with Lake Michigan.
How dire is the threat?
Federal environmental officials estimate that the behemoths now comprise nine out of every 10 pounds of plant or animal material in our waters. With 40 million people relying on the lakes for their drinking water and many billions of dollars riding on the fishing and tourism industries, failing to act on ridding ourselves of them isn’t an option.
Even more telling, the Natural Resources Defense Council supported a recent poisoning program as the lesser of two evils, even though it killed tens of thousands of fish guilty of nothing more than living near the carp infestation.
The efforts to slow or halt the movement of the fish into the Great Lakes via the poisoning program and erection of an electric barrier haven’t been enough to stymie the threat, so, now, border states and the province of Ontario have upped the stakes by going to court to temporarily close two navigational locks in the canal while buying time for science to catch up with the threat.
The defendants?
The state of Illinois, the Chicago sanitation district and the U.S. government.
The response from the Obama White House?
Solicitor General Elena Kagan is already arguing that public safety would be endangered by a temporary halt to shipping through the canal and that cargo and passenger vessel traffic would be disrupted. Yes, let's not disrupt short-term commerce to face down a long-term, devastating threat.
Kagan said it’s "unclear" whether closing the locks immediately is necessary.
Really?
I thought this White House would honor scientific opinion.
Scientists have now confirmed that Asian carp DNA has turned up in water samples taken from areas upstream of the area that was poisoned. The samples are well past the electric barrier and only about 40 miles from Lake Michigan.
But, we can't stop the ships.
Lindsay Chatterton, the scientist who found the carp DNA, recently said: "Unfortunately, we cannot tell how many fish have produced the DNA plume we have detected, but we have to assume that any fish present, if left to their own devices, are capable of establishing a self-supporting population.
"And while we don't know how they might respond in the Great Lakes, we do know from their history of invasions elsewhere in the U.S. and world that they are capable of reaching extremely high densities and having dramatic negative impacts on the ecology and food webs of the invaded waters."
Joel Brammeier, acting president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a Chicago advocacy group, agreed: "Sooner or later, those carp are going to find a breeding home in Lake Michigan and, once that happens, there's going to be no stopping the Asian carp in the Great Lakes.
"There's never been a more important time for the federal and state governments to stand up and do the right thing. If we don't take the right steps today, we are consigning the Great Lakes to a future as carp ponds."
No one is denying that the canal is vital to Great Lakes commerce and that a temporary closure could have some economic impact on a struggling region. But environmental groups and some of the states being threatened by this are concerned that any delay will give the carp a fin-hold on a lake system that cannot withstand another assault.
That’s why Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox filed the suit on Dec. 21 and was joined today by our Ontario neighbors.
In his filing, Cox, no friend of the left, said: "Partial measures are no longer an option. ... If the Asian carp enter the Great Lakes system, the damage to the environment and economies of the Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces will be staggering with no practical end in sight ... The urgent need for action cannot be overstated."
Along with many on the liberal left, I find myself in a strange place, supporting a Republican like Michigan AG Cox in this matter over a Democrat in the White House.
But, perhaps it’s not so strange after all.
Those of us who care about the Great Lakes and understand the threat need to remind Mr. Obama that he is president of the United States, not president of Chicago.