On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused a petition from Michigan,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The petition had asked
that the court order further action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
to stop Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes. If granted, the
injunction would have required the placement of preventative nets in the
Grand Calumet and Little Calumet rivers in Chicago. It would also have
forced the Corps of Engineers to speed up its study — which is currently
scheduled for completion in 2015 — on ways to permanently keep Asian
carp and other invasive species out of the watershed.
This is the third time
that the court has denied an injunction for the Asian carp case. A
lawsuit between the states and the Corps of Engineers and the Chicago
Water District is still pending in federal district court.
Despite the Supreme Court denial, Great Lakes states are pursuing several other avenues to stop the carp.
“This is not the end of anything,” Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for
the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, told Circle of Blue. “The
underlying legal case goes on, the cooperative efforts by the states go
on, the work by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers goes on. The Supreme
Court decision to deny cert (writ of certiorari) doesn’t end this case.”
Frederiksen added that the decision was not surprising because of the
pending district court case, a sentiment echoed by Dana Brueck,
communications officer for the Wisconsin Department of Justice. “The
decision is disappointing but not unexpected. Wisconsin and its partner
Great Lakes states now will press forward to litigate the merits of the
case, including seeking a permanent remedy to keep Asian carp out of the
Great Lakes,” Brueck wrote in a statement to Circle of Blue.
Asian carp are a Eurasian fish that escaped aquaculture facilities in
the southern United States in the 1970s. Since then, they have spread
throughout the Mississippi River Basin, reaching the proximity of
Chicago, which some say is the gateway to the Great Lakes watershed,
where they could wreak havoc on the $US 7 billion sport-fishing industry
by out-competing native species. Carp DNA has been detected in Chicago-area waterways, and one bighead carp was found on the Lake Michigan side of an electric barrier that is meant to keep the fish out.
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