It seems the US Supreme Court doesn’t realize that time is of the essence when trying to stop the Asian Carp from entering Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes ecosystem since on Friday the court chose not to deal with Michigan’s injunction that could have closed the locks. Instead, they are opting to deal with it later this week. In the meantime, President Obama has come forward in support of Illinois and has advised against closing the locks at the O’Brien Lock and Dam and the Chicago Controlling Works.

The only reason to keep the locks open is so that Chicago barge operators can continue to use the passageway. But it is estimated that the barge operators are working with a $30 million business that only benefits the Greater Chicago area. Meanwhile, billions are at stake for the economies of the entire region if the Asian Carp enter the lakes. So, why would the President put more significance upon Illinois claims over the needs of the region? It is disappointing to say the least. But we should have seen it coming, earlier in the week the Great Lakes Town Hall published an interview with Great Lakes Czar Cam Davis where they asked him about closing the locks. Davis called the locks “old and leaky” and said closing them would provide a “false sense of security.” Come on, really? So, should we stop invasive screenings at airports because it doesn’t really stop terrorism and only provides a false sense of security? (Yes, Asian Carp can and should be compared to terrorists.)

Michigan’s Attorney General Mike Cox injunction rightly argues that the price of closing the locks is “relatively minor and finite” compared to the damage the carp promise to bring to the economies of Great Lakes states and Canada. (In fact, Ontario has provided a brief supporting the six-state lawsuit. “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 locks are no longer an asset, they are now a liability, as Joel Brammeier of the Alliance for the Great Lakes has stated. “We’re relying on a canal and a way of thinking that is directly out of the 1890s, quite literally. This was before ecology even existed as a science, much less an understanding of invasion biology,” he said.

We know more today than we did a century ago so lets use this new scientific understanding to make some science-based decisions that will save the Great Lakes ecosystem and economy from apocalyptic damage.

Related posts:

• Supreme Court Rejects Second Attempt to Close Chicago Locks
• Battle Cry: Close the Locks or Face Michigan in Court
• Close The Locks!
• Some Great Lakes Congressmen Call for Locks to Close & Permanent Separation of Basins; Others May Follow
• Supreme Court Are Talking Carp