Pa. attorney general joins call for federal solution to Asian carp problem

Pennsylvania’s attorney general is taking aim at an environmental problem he says needs a federal solution.

Josh Shapiro and attorneys general from Michigan and Minnesota called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come up with a new plan to fight an invasive species of fish that's threatening the Great Lakes.

The Asian carp has long been a problem for many waterways, but now it appears there is a widespread danger of the fish doing real harm to the Great Lakes ecosystem.

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"This invasive species consumes a large amount of plankton, which native species depend on as a food supply, and can severely damage the ecosystem if it continues to spread,” Shapiro said in a Tuesday statement. “My colleague attorneys general and I are asking the Army Corps to change their plans and act now to stop the Great Lakes from being overtaken by Asian carp."

In a letter to the Army Corps, Shapiro and other attorneys general pointed to the Corps’ own research, which they say concluded that closing the Brandon Road Lock in Illinois would be the most effective way to stopping the spread of the Asian carp to the Great Lakes.

Closing that lock job would cost just under $6 million, as opposed to implementing carp-deterrence technologies, a plan the Corps is leaning towards over closing the lock.

The attorneys general say if something isn't done, the invasion of this species could cost several billion dollars in lost revenue from sport fishing alone.

Cox Media Group