Five states filed suit against the federal government and Chicago yesterday, alleging that the U.S Army Corps of Engineers and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago have created a “public nuisance” through the maintenance of water infrastructure (locks, intakes, etc.) that could enable the Asian carp to enter the Great Lakes (if they have not already). The suit was filed by Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. The suit seeks injunctive relief to require greater efforts to keep carp out of the Great Lakes, including closing the locks. From the Washington Post:
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in northern Illinois. It accuses the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago of creating a public nuisance by operating locks, gates and other infrastructure through which the carp could enter the lakes.
That argument didn’t convince the nation’s highest court to order the locks closed earlier this year despite two requests from Michigan and other states. But the justices’ rulings were procedural and did not deal with the merits of the case, Cox’s spokeswoman Joy Yearout said.
The discovery of a 20-pound carp in Lake Calumet on Chicago’s South Side might make a federal judge more inclined to rule favorably, said Nick Schroeck, executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center at Wayne State University. Previously, Michigan and the other states based their request largely on DNA evidence that critics dismissed as unreliable.
“It’s easier to make the case that there’s a public nuisance when you have this actual, live fish,” Schroeck said.