Mike Cox (R)
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline)- Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to force the closure of the locks in the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal to block the migration of Asian carp into the Great Lakes.
The Republican attorney general and gubernatorial candidate wants the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Illinois and the City of Chicago to close the locks until a long-term fix to the carp crisis can be agreed upon.
For many years, the invasive bighead and silver carp have been migrating northward in the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.
The attorney general's lawsuit could be filed directly in the U.S. Supreme Court under a long running federal case concerning the diversion of water from the Great Lakes through the canal.
Trying to prevent the carp from reaching Lake Michigan where they could ravage the Great Lakes $7 billion fishing industry, authorities poisoned part of the canal this month.
"Asian carp must be stopped now because we will not have a second chance once they enter Lake Michigan," Cox said in a statement this month. "The combination of finding carp and carp DNA so close to Lake Michigan is something that should cause great concern for us all."
From Legal Newsline: Reach staff reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.