White House environmental officials met with three Great Lakes governors on Monday to formulate what they call an “unparalleled effort” –- including a $78.5 million commitment of federal dollars -- to keep the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
The state of Michigan has demanded that Chicago-area locks and gates be closed immediately to stop the voracious fish from reaching Lake Michigan via connecting waterways. On February 4, Michigan petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court demanding the closure, citing new evidence uncovered since the court turned down its previous plea. (Natural Resources Defense Council Midwest Program director Henry Henderson blogs about the situation here.)
Illinois officials have stridently resisted Michigan’s call to close the locks. So on Monday, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and officials from the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, Department of the Interior, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service met with the governors of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin to seek solutions.
The resulting “Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework” lays out 25 actions designed to block the movement of Asian carp in the short term while studying long-range solutions. Within 90 days, according to the framework, the locks will be opened less frequently, and whenever they are, the waterways would be poisoned and other control measure instituted to make sure the carp don't progress past their current territory.
Meanwhile, the Army Corps will continue to study the impacts and feasibility of permanently closing the locks, albeit on a much quicker timetable (the original completion date for the report was 2014). Nancy Sutley, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, noted that there are multiple entry points into Lake Michigan that are not blocked by locks or gates, so barriers that use electricity or sound will also need to be installed.
Officials will also study ways of stopping Asian carp from spreading through ballast and bilge water, step up enforcement of prohibitions on buying and selling invasive species, encourage the harvesting of carp from waterways that it has already invaded (such as the Mississippi River) for food and nutritional supplements, and develop new poisons that specifcally target Asian carp to help kill them without destroying other wildlife.
“We have to hit these carp and beat them back with all the tools in the toolbox,” said Cam Davis, President Obama’s senior adviser for Great Lakes issues.
Together, the federal agencies involved in the summit committed $78.5 million this fiscal year for creating new barriers and exploring other methods of stopping the spread of Asian carp. The money will come primarily from a previously announced $475 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. That means the Asian carp emergency will theoretically divert funds from other badly needed projects covered by the initiative, ranging from wetlands restoration to the revamping of archaic sewer systems.
Scientists who have detected Asian carp DNA in numerous locations beyond the Army Corps’ electric barrier say there is little doubt those results mean the carp have spread beyond the blockade. But federal officials at the summit implied skepticism, indicating that they believe their methods are working.
“No agency has found Asian carp upstream of the barrier," Davis said, "despite days and weeks of actively getting boots on the ground with nets, with shockers, and other methodologies to actively find them."
On February 12, federal, state, and local officials will hold a public meeting in Chicago to hear from fishermen, environmentalists, and others concerned about the potential impact of Asian carp on the Great Lakes' water quality and $7 billion fishing industry. Another public meeting will be held later elsewhere in the region.
NRDC's Thom Cmar said in a statement that despite Monday's meeting, the organization remains unconvinced that the right steps are being taken to protect the Great Lakes.
"We are concerned that the document released today still doesn't articulate a clear plan, based on the best available scientific information, that will actually work," Cmar said.
Read more of OnEarth's Asian carp coverage here.
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This President ran for office promoting going green, now it seems as though the only problem he is interested in is the carbon emissions of manufacturing, as this can translate to the partisan issue of oil. The problems of water pollution and carbon footprints of ships bring foreign goods and moving fossil fuels is being ignored. They will never fix the ballast water problem because they can not address it as long as our countries economic health is tied to China, the largest ship builders in the world controlling our economy through trade and buying our treasury notes allowing our large retail employers to keep their store shelves filled. Our Secretary of state wants quick ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty, because it would align ballast water policy with the IMO making it more difficult to implement a national policy. If the president recognized human pathogens and virus, besides just invasive in natural waters used for ballast, it would be hard to argue that they can not be in natural waters used to transport fish. They will never address the issue of natural waters fish are moved in across state lines or how it is disposed of either. It should be noted 85% of the bait fish sold in the US comes from the Secretary of States political origin, Arkansas, with the State being the parent headquarters of Secretary Clinton's former employer, a large importer of foreign goods, that is our second largest employer. If Congress clamps down on exotic fish species and ornamental s being imported into the country (HR3669) this will create more domestic production and interstate transportation. As recent and past talk of nuclear and toxic waste dumping in the worlds oceans continues without action by this administration on movement of ballast water, it is not very surprising that this President will not support a policy to protect our Great Lakes from destruction by just fish that would hurt the economy of his political origin.
Of the many challenges facing the US environment, the invasion of Asian carp into the Great Lakes seems to me to be one of the most terrifying, irreversible and imminent.
I would like to see efforts mounted by NRDC on a scale we have seen to protect the wolf populations (which I also support) to ensure that timely and effective steps are taken now, rather than trying to figure out ways to get the toothpaste back into the tube after the carp have settled into and begun to devastate this most precious fresh water ecosystem.
The voices of commerce are strong in opposition to blocking entry to the Lakes - this is a common theme in recent history - the near term return versus the longer, rational view. But it is the voice of self-interest, and needs to be viewed in that light.
I think our recent economic meltdown, brought on by the greed of a rapacious financial industry, is a stark lesson in how unbridled self-interest can be the undoing of us all. We are all suffering from it now, and will continue to suffer for years to come.
The Great Lakes are a most beautiful gift we have been entrusted with, to care for and protect. Monetary considerations, whether pro or con the Asian carp in this debate, should be secondary to the preservation of the ecosystem in the name of the public trust.
Again, I hope NRDC will actively work with the member community to resist commercial interests and greed, to avert disaster.