Inside the boxy, steel-sided structures, a handful of Army Corps of Engineers personnel tend to the electronic and mechanical equipment that keep the Electric Dispersal Barriers up and running.

An electrical hum emanates from refrigerator-size computers in the control room, giving the sense that touching any bit of metal in this place could result in a spark.

Known collectively as the electric barrier, the facility is a series of three short-circuited underwater systems — the oldest, an experimental “demonstration barrier,” and two stronger, newer barriers known as IIA and IIB.

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But every other day of the year, the Chicago River also serves as a vital shipping lane — the only connection between the St. Lawrence Seaway in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the South.  Every year over a million tons of goods travel through area locks, supporting area jobs, keeping trucks off our highways, and minimizing the carbon transport of shipping those goods.  It’s off-putting, then, to consider that various groups needlessly continue a quest for closure of the locks on the city’s river.

The calls for closure within Chicago’s waterway system started in full force back in2010. Around that time, reports regarding Asian carp started to garner increasing attention when anglers in southern parts of the state began catching and harvesting more and more Asian carp. Politically motivated environmental groups seized the opportunity to use a minor spark about Asian carp migration to fuel a frenzy.

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John Goss — the first presidential appointee to lead a U.S. war against an invasive species — prefers his official White House title, “Asian carp director.” Far from wielding the power of a “czar,” Goss is working with a shrinking budget and the legendarily slow-moving Army Corps of Engineers to fight a force of nature.

“The original title was ‘carp commander,’” Goss dead-panned during the keynote speech at a recent Washington conference on invasive species, a gathering where the 59-year-old environmentalist enjoyed a kind of rock-star status. “I’m just not the commander type. ‘Director’ is strong enough. And if I can’t get everybody to work together, it’s not going to work anyway.”

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On Feb. 27, the Supreme Court said ‘no’ when it declined to revisit an appeal by the State of Michigan, which wanted to compel closure of the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal. The canal, created to drain stormwater and wastewater from Chicago, could allow silver and bighead carp from the nearby Des Plaines River to enter Lake Michigan.

Since the two carp, native to Asia, escaped from fish ponds in the South in the 1970s, they have occupied much of the Mississippi River system, and have become extremely abundant in rivers near the Canal. Biologists, state agencies and the Great Lakes Commission warn that once the fish reach Lake Michigan, they will likely spread through the five lakes, then into the St. Lawrence River.

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Michigan and four neighboring states wanted the Army Corps of Engineers to install nets in two Chicago-area rivers and to expedite a study of permanent steps to head off an invasion by bighead and silver carp, which have advanced up the Mississippi River and its tributaries to within 55 miles of Lake Michigan. Scientists say if the large, prolific carp spread widely in the lakes, they could starve out native species and devastate the $7 billion fishing industry.

The justices’ ruling, which was issued without comment, was their fourth rejection of pleas by the states for interim steps — including closure of navigational locks in the Chicago waterways — while their lawsuit against the corps is pending in a federal district court.

“It is our duty to aggressively fight to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species,” Michigan Attorney Bill Schuette said. “So while I’m disappointed, we will continue forward on all fronts.”

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania have joined Michigan in demanding faster action against the carp, which eat vast amounts of tiny plants and animals at the base of the food chain.

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Submission by Mark Biel, Chairman of the UnLock Our Jobs Coalition

These comments are submitted in response to the public report – “Inventory of Available Controls for Aquatic Nuisance Species of Concern – Chicago Area Waterway System,” an Interim Product of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS).

The management of aquatic nuisance species is a complex problem.  There is no single, silver bullet solution that will address this issue. Cataloging the multitude of control options available to address invasive species threats is an important step in developing a comprehensive, multifaceted control plan.

I am concerned that this report minimized, or at least excluded, several key weaknesses with the most controversial potential control option being evaluated – namely hydrological separation.  Specifically, I was disappointed that the report failed to highlight:

• Separation is not a solution for the most pressing invasive species threat – Asian carp.  The timeline for achieving separation, if it’s feasible at all, is several decades. This important consideration makes separation irrelevant for addressing many of the most pressing current invasive species threat, including Asian carp.
• The effectiveness for transfer prevention is highly questionable.  As noted in the GLMRIS fact sheet, if a storm produces waters that exceed the designed separation barrier, water and Asian carp could spill overtop the barrier and/or flow around it. Additionally, human transport of fish and other invasive species could instantaneously render the decades and billions of dollars in capital costs futile.
• Hydrologic separation would only address the aquatic pathways in Chicago. A previous portion of the GLMRIS research identified eighteen potential pathways outside of Chicago by which Asian carp could reach the Great Lakes. Hydrologic separation would fail to address all possible areas by which the Asian carp could transfer between basins.
• Implementing separation requires substantial negative trade-offs. Undoing the CAWS system, one of the most advanced engineering projects in the region, would significantly alter 1) water quality in Southern Lake Michigan, 2) regional transportation and traffic, 3) drinking water sources and flood control systems for millions of regional residents, and 4) the availability of resources for other control efforts, given the high cost of this single proposed control element.

While I understand further study to quantify and evaluate these potential trade-offs is underway, it’s critical these limitations be included, or at least recognized in interim reports.  Government officials and stakeholders must be made aware of the known limitations of separation as decisions are made today about funding and supporting near term solutions for the Asian carp threat.

Recognition of the limitations of separation is a particularly poignant concern given a proposal recently released by the Great Lakes Commission (GLC) that I understand you are considering using during the GLMRIS review process.Those involved and supporting the GLC study set out with a clear consensus in mind that hydrologic separation is the only solution for invasive species control.  While I believe the GLC’s cost and timeline estimates to be understated – both make it clear that separation cannot be completed in a timely manner, and would require a massive diversion of financial resources that would likely make the more than 100 other comprehensive control strategies you’ve outlined impossible to fund.

We appreciate your recognition of these important facts concerning hydrologic separation, and appreciate your commitment to fully exploring the options as well as the effectiveness and implications for each one. The diligence and thoroughness of the GLMRIS team in addressing the problem of invasive species serves as a strong reminder to policymakers and stakeholders that if we embrace a comprehensive, strategic solution to invasive species, we can control them over the long term.

Please contact me if you have any questions. Thank you again for your continued efforts on this important issue.

Sincerely,

Mark Biel
Chairman, UnLock Our Jobs Coalition

Some simply dismiss the Asian carp and do so at great risk. Many support exploration of alternative barriers, control methods and educational tools to address the species’ presence. Yet a third group continues to push for closure of the Chicago locks and permanent separation of the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River Basin – effectively ending all waterborne commerce and transportation causing certain economic devastation across the region.

The Great Lakes Commission released a report this week supporting permanent separation. In the spirit of transparency, however, it is misleading for the commission to characterize this proposal as a true “study.”

The commission’s exercise assumes separation must occur and then merely looks at the geographic points where it could be possible. Although separation was just one of 90 potential control methods recently identified by federal officials in another study, no alternative barriers or measures were reviewed, and the laundry list of logistical hurdles have not been addressed or even fully realized.

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The cheapest solution would cost taxpayers more than $3 billion and would take at least a decade to complete.

The study, which cost $2 million and was funded by several foundations, says separating the two watersheds would create jobs and could end up being cheaper than spending money every year to fight invasive species.

The engineering study proposes one to five new barriers near Chicago, rerouting cargo and pleasure boats, and building huge tunnels to handle floodwaters that could no longer go into Lake Michigan.

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Agencies and lawmakers in Illinois and Indiana continue to lead the way in keeping a broader perspective on the issue but a new state, Minnesota has recently taken steps that should serve as an example to the rest of the region.  Led by Governor Mark Dayton, policymakers in the Gopher State are taking a proactive and level-headed approach to the issue.

Just this week, the governor convened an Asian carp summit in Minneapolis to discuss a coordinated control strategy. Attended by representatives from the state’s congressional delegation and representatives from federal and state agencies, the meeting provided a forum for constructive conversation about control efforts. With several stakeholders and experts collaborating in the same room, it’s no surprise that the dialogue produced sound and strategic ideas for managing the species in the future.

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