Court to rule on Great Lakes fish lockout
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: The Supreme Court is likely to issue a ruling this week on a lawsuit to keep invasive fish out of the Great Lakes. Several states, led by Michigan, want Illinois to close canal locks to block the voracious Asian carp. But Illinois, backed by the federal government, argues that closing the locks would also block commerce. Marketplace’s John Dimsdale reports.
John Dimsdale: States around the Great Lakes are bracing for an invasion of monster fish that can grow to be 4 feet long and weigh a hundred pounds.
Andy Buschbaum: They breed like mosquitoes and they eat like hogs.
Andy Buchsbaum directs the Great Lakes office of the National Wildlife Federation. He supports Michigan’s lawsuit to force Illinois to close a series of canal locks to keep Asian carp from threatening fishing and tourism on the Great Lakes.
But Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says those locks handle $16 billion worth of cargo every year.
Lisa Madigan: Petroleum products, agricultural products, coal, road salt, steel, cement, home heating oil — things that are vital to the running of our economy, certainly of our city and our state.
Besides, she says, the locks were never designed to block fish, and closing them may not work.
In Washington, I’m John Dimsdale for Marketplace.
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