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Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Environment - Illinois AG Lisa Madigan "Wins One for ... the Carp?"
From NBC Chicago's "Ward Room," some quotes from an entry by Edward McClelland:
As attorney general, it’s Lisa Madigan’s job is to defend the state of Illinois.But Monday, she won a case for the state’s most hated fish, the Asian carp. The U.S. Supreme Court shot down a suit to force Illinois to close the locks at the O’Brien Dam and in the Chicago River. Michigan’s attorney general argued that sealing the locks is the only way to prevent the carp from invading the lake, and ruining a $7 billion fishery industry. * * *
The back story here is that the other Great Lakes states have always hated the ship canal. When it was opened, in the 1920s, the canal sucked up so much water that lake levels dropped from Chicago to Mackinaw City, leaving piers and marinas high and dry. Wisconsin sued to put a cork in it. The Supreme Court refused to close the canal, but did order Chicago to stop hogging so much water.
Now, Michigan’s attorney general plans to ask the Supreme Court to reopen the 83-year-old “Chicago Diversion” case. He’ll be joined by Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana and Ontario. That’s a lot of neighbors who don’t like the fact that Chicago’s toilet drain has become a highway for an ugly, ravenous fish. And another job for Attorney General Madigan, who'll again have defend Illinois' unusual -- and much-resented -- relationship with Lake Michigan.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 23, 2010 01:37 PM
Posted to Environment