Granholm on Asian Carp meeting at White House: ‘We have a disagreement’

Gov. Jennifer Granholm says she is pleased with the action being taken by the administration of President Barack Obama, but feels the feds can still do more.

Granholm and other Great Lakes governors met with Obama officials at the White House Monday afternoon. During that meeting, Granholm said the administration said it is taking many actions to address the threat posed by Asian Carp to the Great Lakes.

She said officials would be using fish-killing chemicals and fish netting to monitor the fish populations. To date, tests have determined there is DNA evidence of the fish in Lake Michigan, but a fish kill and netting event last week turned up about 100 carp, none of which were Asian Carp species, Granholm said.

In addition to the monitoring efforts, the feds said they were going to expedite the development of a third electric barrier, as well as review ways to shut down additional waterway connections to the Great Lakes from the Chicago area.

Most controversial however, is a plan by the Army Corps of Engineers to have a plan in place to limits Asian Carp access to the lakes by restricting use of the locks. Attorney General Mike Cox asked the Supreme Court to shut down the locks, but they declined.

Under the plan Granholm said the Corps was floating, the locks would be closed for two or three weeks, and open for one week. Before the locks opened for traffic, the Corps would use fish killing poisons to kill fish in the area and prevent Asian Carp migration. That plan could be recommended by March 1, and in place by April 1, Granholm said.

“All that being said, we strongly encouraged them to close the locks,” Granholm said. “This has to be a permanent solution.”

Granholm said the Obama administration said it had an “open mind” when it came to the threat of Asian carp and if further evidence surfaces showing the fish are in the Great Lakes, they are not opposed to ordering the locks shut down.

“They said there was not enough evidence yet to shut down the locks,” said Granholm. She says she thinks the positive DNA results should have been enough. “You know I support 99 percent of the what the Obama administration is doing, on this one issue, though, we have a disagreement.”

Michigan says closing the locks could hurt Chicago by about $70 million a year, while Chicago says it would cost them $190 million a year. But Granholm says those costs are trivial in comparison the $7 billion annual sport fishing economy that the Asian carp would decimate.

The feds also announced a plan to spend up to $78.9 million to attack the problem. But Granholm said the funding stream for that announcement was “unclear,” and said she opposed funds for this coming out of the Great Lakes Restoration programs.