Update on the Asian Carp

Photo credit: science.kqed.org

This blog posted an announcement of the public meeting yesterday at Cleveland Public Library. Here the report in The Toledo Blade:

Army Corps of Engineers criticized at meeting for slow pace on carp issue

BY TOM HENRY, BLADE STAFF WRITER

CLEVELAND — U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) got a round of applause on Thursday when she criticized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the time it took reporting to Congress the most viable ways to fend off Asian carp from the Great Lakes.

“I wish I could say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers understands the importance and urgency of the situation, but — alas — that does not seem to be the case,” said Miss Kaptur, the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Water Committee that oversees the Corps’ budget.

“Indeed, the Corps of Engineers was negligent in addressing this issue. It took a bill in Congress to wake up the Corps from its hibernation. The Corps has done this region a disservice in failing to make a firm recommendation about the best course of action to prevent an Asian carp invasion. When the going got tough, the Corps — for whatever reason — punted,” she said at a public meeting inside the Cleveland Public Library auditorium.

The meeting drew about 125 people. Those who attended — a combination of fishermen, businessmen, and public officials — fought rush-hour traffic and icy roads to get there.

Miss Kaptur and several other members of the Great Lakes congressional delegation have said they favor a complete hydrologic separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds by rerouting the Chicago Area Waterway System that connects them.

But they anticipate an uphill fight in Congress because the Corps stated in its long-awaited report that option would cost $18.4 billion and take 25 years. If approved, it would be one of North America’s largest engineering projects.

At stake is the Great Lakes region’s fishery, valued at $7 billion a year.

The project is pitched as more than one option to fend off Asian carp and other invasive species.

In Chicago, it is being touted as a major investment to reduce flooding and pollution threats that have existed for decades.

“We have to build a movement to save our Great Lakes,” Miss Kaptur said. “We have to do the opposite of what the Corps did.”

Corps officials running the meeting did not respond as she spoke, although they later said they understand a lot of Great Lakes residents are frustrated by the Asian carp situation and want faster action.

The Corps announced at the outset of Thursday’s meeting it has slated meetings in Erie, Pa., for Jan. 24 and New Orleans for Jan. 31 because of strong interest in those areas. New Orleans wants to weigh in because of the possible effect the project could have on the Mississippi River and the shipping industry.

The next meeting is Tuesday in Ann Arbor. All meetings are from 4 to 7 p.m.

One of the first speakers Thursday was Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, who said he arrived “with a great deal of frustration” because of delays and because of litigation that Ohio, Michigan, New York, Minnesota, and Wisconsin initiated against the federal government and the state of Illinois over the matter. Illinois has resisted calls to temporarily close the Chicago-area locks, citing the need to save jobs.

“Some of us feel nothing is going to work except a complete separation. We do not want to be in a position someday where there is no more sport-fishing,” Mr. DeWine, a Republican and a former U.S. senator from Ohio, said.

As he left the meeting, Mr. DeWine told The Blade he remains in favor of a complete separation, despite its costs and length of time it would take.

The Corps said during most of that 25-year construction period, new reservoirs and tunnels in the Chicago area would be built to prevent flooding and improve water quality.

Mr. DeWine also implored the White House to pick up the pace.

“Now that this study’s finally done, it’s time to do something. Let’s not take another six months,” Mr. DeWine said. “It’s going to be expensive, but it’s going to be more expensive if we don’t [do a complete separation].”

Several Cleveland-area fishermen and property owners testified in favor of a hydrologic separation.

Sam Speck, a Republican who served eight years as Ohio Department of Natural Resources director under former Gov. Bob Taft, said the $18.4 billion price tag is not as enormous as it sounds, given that it could be phased in over 25 years.

“From everything I have seen to date, the most comprehensive approach is the one we need to take,”Mr. Speck said.

Larry Fletcher, Ottawa County Visitors Bureau director, said Ohio’s tourism and economy is supported in large part by the fishing industry.

But Mr. Fletcher said the state’s booming birding industry also would take a big hit if the fishing industry collapses because of the ecological connections between birds and fish. Lake Erie, he said, has become one of the world’s Top 10 birding destinations.

Kristy Meyer, Ohio Environmental Council managing director of agricultural and clean water programs, said nearly a third of Ohio’s $40 million tourism industry is supported by the state’s eight Great Lakes counties.

“We need to move quickly. We need to move with interim steps [to fend off Asian carp] that will put a complete separation in place,” Ms. Meyer said.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, did not attend the meeting. A staffer for Mr. Brown delivered a statement in which he reiterated the senator’s support for a separation of the watersheds.

So where does Sen. Portman stand? He led the charge to get action from . . . the Army Corps. of Engineers.  Here's part of a news release on his website from last November:

Portman, Stabenow Lead Senate Effort to Stop Asian Carp

Call on the Army Corps of Engineers to Identify Remaining Steps Needed to Permanently Cut Off Asian Carp Entry Points into the Great Lakes

Washington, D.C. – Today, a bipartisan group of all 16 Great Lake Senators, led by U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan), joined in an ongoing effort in the fight to stop Asian carp from destroying the Great Lakes ecosystem. In a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the bipartisan group of Senators called on the Corps to identify remaining steps needed to permanently cut off Asian carp entry points into the Great Lakes.

Last year, the Stop Invasive Species Act, written by Portman and Stabenow, was signed into law by President Obama.  The law requires the Army Corps of Engineers to present Congress, by the end of the year, with a report (known as the GLMRIS report) on possible strategies to permanently prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.  Today’s bipartisan action urges the Corps to outline the steps it will take once that report is submitted to determine the best approach among the possible options so work can begin as soon as possible.

The Great Lakes Senators’ letter reads in part:  “It is our expectation that the Corps will work with Congress, our staff, and regional stakeholders before and after the report is issued so that we can expeditiously determine how to best move forward with a comprehensive approach to address Asian Carp and other aquatic invasive species. We ask you to identify how you intend to work with stakeholders on a comprehensive alternative that will maintain commerce, enhance and not degrade water quality, and permanently safeguard the Great Lakes from Asian carp and other invasive species following the release of the GLMRIS report.… Upon release of the GLMRIS report, it is imperative that the Corps continue its evaluation process under existing authority so that we can move very quickly on a comprehensive approach to best protect the environmental and economic health of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.”

photo credit: mlive.com

STOP THE CARP! Public meeting Thurs., Jan 16 / 4pm-7pm

Except this is no joke, and it’s not a Godzilla monster. 

It’s the Asian Carp.

The Plain Dealer editorial appears here, and below are some extracts. Mark your calendar for  Thursday, Jan. 16. The Army Corps of Engineers will host a public meeting at the Cleveland Public Library, 325 Superior Avenue, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The carp cometh. (Marlin Levison, The Star Tribune)

The pending carpocalypse of the Great Lakes

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- the same folks who have come up with endless ways to delay action on the threatened invasion of Asian carp into the Great Lakes -- seem determined to institutionalize that failure with a new report that obscures the need for immediate action beneath an avalanche of "risk matrix" and "cost methodology."

But you can stop the Corps from turning the Great Lakes into a corpse.

Circle Thursday, Jan. 16, on the calendar. The Corps will host a public meeting at the Cleveland Public Library, 325 Superior Avenue, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The topic: Their Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study, a wishy-washy "We could do this, we could do that" strategy that skims over the half-measures that have allowed the silver and bighead carp -- the most serious threats these 20,000-year-old liquid assets have faced -- to gain a finhold in the largest freshwater ecosystem on the continent.

The five glacial lakes provide drinking water to 30 million people and float a $7.5 billion commercial fishing industry and 800,000 jobs.

Then there is the tourism. In Ohio alone, Lake Erie recreation and tourism net an estimated $11.5 billion annually and support more than 117,000 jobs, according to state statistics.

And yet, the Corps apparently could care less about what happens in Cleveland or Milwaukee or Buffalo -- especially if it means upsetting President Barack Obama's Chicago shipping industry cronies. 

The study -- which took seven years, millions of dollars and a bipartisan boot-in-the-butt by Congress to produce -- offers eight options, beginning with the laughable suggestion that the Corps continues its current do-nothing tactic by relying on the electric barriers in the Chicago Sanitary and Carp, er, Ship Canal that its own research has proven ineffective.

. . .

And then -- buried near the bottom [of the study] -- is the only obvious solution to stop the carp as well as other invasive species from gutting the Great Lakes: Hydrological separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins.

Cost: $18.3 billion.

And worth every penny.

Great Lake governors, local, state and federal elected officials, scientists, the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition and the Ohio Environmental Council all endorse that plan.

Now it time to make your voice heard. Tell the Corps why the Great Lakes mean so much to you. Personalize the relationship. 

Attend the Jan. 16 meeting at the Cleveland Public Library. Then ask the Corps officials and other officials who will be present the tough questions:

1. Hydrological separation is the only strategy that meets the congressional mandate to protect the Great Lakes and it's expensive, yet so is doing nothing. Are our lakefront elected representatives including Reps. Marcy Kaptur and David Joyce and Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman prepared to fight for this money? What about Ohio Gov. John Kasich? Spending hundreds of thousands of federal dollars on the Great Lakes Initiative annually will be a wasted investment if the lakes' fisheries and recreational attractions are laid waste by predatory carp.

2. Given that the Corps' own research confirms that the electric barriers are ineffective and that the physical separation of the two water systems will require extensive and time-consuming work, can Corps officials describe in detail the technologies and any physical barriers they are prepared to implement quickly to prevent the carp from entering the Great Lakes before the watersheds are separated?

3. Considering the urgency of the threat, how soon will Corps officials pledge to have a plan in place to separate the two watersheds? When will the actual separation work begin?

Getting unambiguous answers to these questions is critical for Northeast Ohio and all Great Lakes communities.

THE MEETING: Thursday, Jan. 16 / Cleveland Public Library, 325 Superior Avenue / 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.