Welcome to one of the Great Lakes region's first environmental issues blogs. The North American Great Lakes contain 18% of the world's available surface freshwater and are a source of beauty, spiritual renewal and livelihood. Keep track of Great Lakes news and comment or disagree politely to frequent posts.
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A trade group says closing a canal lock near Chicago in a bid to stop
the Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan could deliver a blow to tug and barge companies.
Then perhaps this trade group should pay for carp control in the river from which it benefits.
And one has been found very close to Lake Michigan.
We are seeing the consequences of a complete lack of prior urgency by federal and some state agencies on the Asian carp mess. One prime reason? The Army Corps of Engineers and many Illinois officials see their job as serving commerce, not protecting ecosystems -- not recognizing that commerce will be profoundly affected if the carp begin reproducing in the Great Lakes.
This will go down as one of the lamer defenses of environmental agency inaction in Great Lakes history. Again, the Post-Tribune and reporter Gitte Laasby are to be commended for their dogged journalism on this one.
One -- make that two editorial voices in effect support that idea today, backing up the proposal with half-truths and misrepresentations. The worst thing Michigan could do right now is to further strip itself of hope by selling off its water. See how well "the free market" has helped its economy until now.
Water is not a widget or an automobile; it is the collective heritage of humanity.
The problem is that it should never have come to this. The potential invasion was known almost a decade ago, and was preventable. There needs to be accountability for the federal agencies that muffed the threat.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it's not ready to close shipping locks to keep the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
The commander of the Corps' Chicago district, Col. Vincent Quarles,
said Wednesday that the agency is considering all options. But he says
it must study the issue first, including how closing the locks could
affect flooding and water quality.
