U.S. Officials Plan $78.5 Million Effort to Keep Dangerous Carp Out of Great Lakes

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By MONICA DAVEY

Published: February 9, 2010

Addressing a threat that has grown increasingly tense throughout the Midwest as genetic material from the fish was found in Lake Michigan.

Leaders from Michigan and other states point to the risks the carp pose to the fishing industry here, valued at $7 billion a year. But officials in Chicago worry about closing waterways between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River because of a barge industry that carries millions of tons of gravel, coal, cement and salt along that path.

“President Obama proved today that he’ll do anything to protect the narrow interests of his home state of Illinois,” said Mr. Cox, a Republican who is running for governor, “even if it means destroying Michigan’s economy.”

The Illinois Waterway system It is a system of rivers, lakes, and canals which provide a shipping connection from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River. The Illinois and Michigan Canal opened in 1849. In 1900, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal replaced it and reversed the flow of the Chicago River so it no longer flowed into Lake Michigan.


Everyone agrees that the carp should be kept out of the Great Lakes, which contain 20 percent of the world’s freshwater, but economic interests appear to have divided state officials.


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