Chicago Canal to Close During Week After Labor Day

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R.G. Edmonson | Aug 26, 2010 7:37PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online -

Army Corps of Engineers to install barriers to prevent spread of Asian carp

The Coast Guard said Wednesday it will temporarily close a half-mile section of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal during most daylight hours during the week after Labor Day for construction of parasite barriers by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The canal will close from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. between Sept. 7 and Sept. 11 between mile markers 296.1 and 296.7. The closures will allow the Corps to install underwater pieces of its 2B barrier, the last of three on the canal. Its companion, 2A, became active in April, and 2B should be finished by year's end.

The barriers carry an electrical current that repels fish. Its main purpose is to deter invasive Asian carp from spreading into the Great Lakes. On June 23 a three-foot long bighead carp was caught in Lake Calumet, adjacent to Lake Michigan, but Corps spokeswoman Lynne Whelen said there have been no more carp caught upstream from the barriers.

Coincidentally, Sept. 7 is the date when Judge Robert M. Dow Jr., of the U.S. District Court in Chicago begins hearing testimony in a suit brought by five Great Lakes states against the Corps. The suit calls for the Corps to use "all available efforts" to block carp in waterways leading to Lake Michigan. The court will hear arguments on the states' motion for a preliminary injunction on Sept. 7, 8 and 10.

The carp case pits commercial interests that transport commodities on barges on the CSSC against environmental interests that fear destruction of the Great Lakes ecosystem. Earlier this year the U.S. Supreme Court twice denied a petition by the state of Michigan to close Lake Michigan access points until the Corps finds a final solution.

 

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Some related stories from today's news. The first one is great. We need MORE of this sort of thing.

The second just shows how far some politicians are out of touch with reality.

Asian carp fighters get $500K grant



(AP) — The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is giving $500,000 to the Great Lakes Commission to help it find ways to prevent invasive Asian carp from entering the lakes.
The Flint-based foundation says it hopes the grant will help protect the Great Lakes region's $7 billion annual sport fishing industry.


The foundation says a team led by the Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative will seek "the best economic and environmental solutions" for keeping nonnative species from entering the Great Lakes through Chicago's canals.


Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania are asking a federal judge in Chicago to take emergency action to close two shipping locks and install barriers against the carp.

Mayor Daley calls Michigan oil spill 'worse than Asian carp'


(AP) — Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is demanding a criminal investigation into an oil spill that dumped a million gallons into a waterway leading to Lake Michigan.
Daley made the demand Thursday of Michigan's attorney general, arguing "oil is worse than Asian carp."


The carp remark was a reference to the filing of several lawsuits by Michigan seeking to close the O'Brien and Chicago locks. Michigan officials claim closing the locks will prevent Asian carp from overrunning the Great Lakes and decimating the fishing industry.


Illinois officials contend closing the locks would cost the local economy $4.7 billion over 20 years.


Daley noted the Great Lakes is a source of drinking water that is "very important to protect."


The oil leaked into the Kalamazoo River on Monday from a pipe belonging to Enbridge Energy Partners, a Canadian company