Invasive species lawsuit expands

Legal forces in the Upper Midwest arrayed against the invasive Asian carp Monday, as Minnesota joined a lawsuit with Ohio and Michigan applying legal pressure to seal off Illinois' carp-infested waterways from the Great Lakes. The lawsuit, filed by Michigan before the U.S. Supreme Court last week, raises the potential that the Chicago and O'Brien locks in downtown Chicago and south suburban Burnham might be ordered closed -- an outcome that would have major repercussions in the Chicago area. Hundreds of millions of dollars in freight and recreation in northeast Illinois would be rerouted or reorganized if the locks closed. But Michigan says it is suing to protect a more vital economic interest: a fishing industry on the lakes worth a reported $7 billion annually. Ohio joined the suit last week. On Monday, so did Minnesota. The sums at stake underscore the powerful interests aligning on either side of the advance of carp. A trade group for the barge industry, American Waterways Operators, says closing the locks would disrupt shipments of jet fuel, coal, road salt and other products. Backers of the Michigan lawsuit, including the Alliance for the Great Lakes, downplay the impact, arguing much of the inland navigation would remain unchanged except for transfers at or near the locks. Still, new infrastructure would have to be built to transfer cargo...read more