U.S. House: Can't Close Locks to Stop Carp

By Prescott Carlson in News on Feb 19, 2011 5:15PM

The U.S. House of Representatives have blocked a measure introduced by Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) to indefinitely shut two area shipping locks in order to block Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan.

A federal judge dealt the movement to shut the locks a seemingly fatal blow last December, ruling against Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, saying, "Asian carp do not appear to be an imminent threat and closing the locks might not keep them from reaching Lake Michigan, anyway." Cox had also unsuccessfully argued for the locks' closure twice in the U.S. Supreme Court.

So Camp decided to do an end run around the rulings and shut the locks using a popular Republican buzzword usually reserved for their fight against health care reform -- defunding. According to the Canadian Press, Camp wanted to strip funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it needs to keep the locks open. But the budget bill amendment was struck down by a vote of 292-137. U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL-13) reportedly responded:

"It's a great relief that we were able to defeat this amendment. Its passage would have been devastating to Chicago's economy and cost thousands of jobs in our region. Worse, it would have been an empty gesture against the carp, doing more to kill jobs than slow down fish."

If the carp do reach Lake Michigan and the rest of the Great Lakes and wreak havoc on their ecosystem, its estimated that 800,000 jobs could be lost as the $7 billion fishing industry would be "wiped out."