U.S. conservation federation latest to call for action to keep Asian carp out of Great Lakes

The National Wildlife Federation is the latest group to call for closing the locks that connect the Mississippi River system with Lake Michigan in an effort to prevent Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes. At the national conservation group's annual meeting in Houston on Friday, members unanimously passed a resolution calling for the river to be separated from the lakes. It's a step that has been vigorously opposed by the shipping industry, the tourism industry in Chicago and Illinois lawmakers.

"The National Wildlife Federation realizes this is a hugely important issue, not just for the Great Lakes but for all U.S. waters," said Jordan Lubetkin of the federation's Great Lakes office. "Invasive species are a problem that has to be tackled aggressively and immediately."

Closing shipping locks in Chicago waterways to prevent Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes would cost the area economy about $4.7 billion over two decades, according to an analysis released Wednesday.

That report from the Illinois Chamber of Commerce envisions a far greater economic ripple than a February study commissioned by the state of Michigan, which is leading a legal campaign to close the locks temporarily while a long-term solution to the Asian carp threat is devised.

The new "study shows, through well-reasoned economics, that closing these locks will have a devastating effect on our local economy, resulting in the loss of potentially hundreds of area jobs and hurting a range of industries and services," said Jim Farrell, executive director of the Illinois chamber's Infrastructure Council.