Circuit Court: Keep Locks Open
By Chris Bentley in News on Aug 25, 2011 2:30PM
Yesterday was a good day in court for ambitious carp.
Despite acknowledging “a substantial likelihood of harm,” a federal appeals court rejected a plea to immediately close shipping locks on Chicago-area waterways to keep Asian carp from Lake Michigan.
But the judges agreed the dreaded fish posed a significant risk to the Great Lakes. Judge Diane Wood, writing for the panel, noted there is “a non-trivial chance that the carp will invade Lake Michigan in numbers great enough to constitute a public nuisance.”
The court said measures taken by Chicago’s Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop the expansion of the invasive species should be sufficient. Actions so far include a three-part electrical barrier, intensive netting and fish shocking efforts, and a ban on importing the fish into, or shipping it within the country. The Corps’ long-term prevention report is due for completion in 2015.
A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the bid by Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin for an immediate closure of the locks, backing up Federal District Judge Robert Dow in Chicago who denied the request last December.
Unlike Dow, though, the panel agreed if the carp do enter Lake Michigan in large numbers, “there is little doubt that the harm to the plaintiff states would be irreparable.” With more than 45 million people living in those states, the court’s concern is a nod to the issue’s environmental urgency. Asian carp could be disastrous for the Great Lakes’ $4 billion sport fishing industry.