DeWine joins fight to protect Great Lakes from invasion

It is a sad commentary when a ma- jority of the Great Lakes states have to band together to seek federal action to protect the greatest fresh-water resource in the world. But that is exactly what has become necessary in the face of Washington’s refusal to go against the wishes of one state, Illinois, which continues to maintain that preserving the Chicago area’s access to the Mississippi River is more important the blocking the most direct route available to the Asian carp to establish itself in the lakes.

We applaud Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine for joining the attorneys general from New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in seeking a permanent barrier against the carp and other invasive species.

In the fight of most Great Lakes states against an invasive enemy that would destroy the environment of all five lakes if it gained a foothold, President Barack Obama has been AWOL. He has chosen to side with his home state of Illinois over every other shore state (and two Canadian provinces, if we want to consider the international implications).

As we said in December, on its face, President Obama’s battle plan to keep the Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes looks deep and aggressive, but it falls short.

The president’s $47 million plan contained studies and possibilities, such as electric fish barriers and enhanced DNA testing and even the creation of a website, to provide up-to-date information about what’s being done. And it identified 19 potential pathways in various Great Lakes states that have the potential for the transfer of invasive species between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins.

Biggest piece missing

But what the plan didn’t include is the best way to cut off the most likely access Asian carp have to Lake Michigan, which would be to close the canals and locks that connect Chicago with the Mississippi River.

There are other invasive species that have done damage to the lakes and represent a threat of future damage, but none rises to the level of the voracious Asian carp. It can grow to 100 pounds by consuming the plankton that is an integral part of the food chain supporting the lakes’ other species, including all of the sport fish.

The Great Lakes attorneys general, with the exception of Illinois, are requesting the federal government develop a permanent ecological separation at the conjunction of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basins, which occurs at the Chicago Area Waterway System.

In a letter seeking support from 25 other states, they noted that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers identified the canal as the major pathway for the spread of 30 invasive species, including the Asian carp and nine others that are a particularly high threat.

For DeWine’s part, he is continuing to pursue protection of the lakes from invasive species that he began when he represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate. That alone is an indication of how much time has been wasted. DeWine last served in the Senate in 2006. The carp, which are believed to have escaped from southern fish farms along the Mississippi during floods, have been making their way north since the 1990s.

The time to stop their advance is now.