Editor's Note: The following
press release arrived after deadline Dec. 30, 2009
Indiana Attorney General Zoeller to support
Michigan in Asian carp lawsuit
Case filed in U.S.
Supreme Court seeks to stop invasive fish from reaching Lake Michigan
INDIANAPOLIS
– Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said today he will file a
friend-of-the-court brief supporting
Michigan’s effort to keep Asian carp from
invading Lake Michigan through
Illinois waterways.
Zoeller plans to draft an amicus brief siding with
Michigan in its lawsuit against the State
of
Illinois and the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers. The brief will be filed in the United States Supreme
Court, which hears disputes between states.
Last week, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox filed a
lawsuit seeking to require
Illinois and the Corps of Engineers to take
steps to prevent the invasive Asian carp from migrating from
Illinois waterways into
Lake Michigan and becoming established
there.
Detected within six miles of
Lake Michigan, non-native Asian carp – also
known as bighead carp and silver carp -- are voracious and compete for food
resources against native fish species. If introduced into the Great Lakes
ecosystem through shipping locks and canals, Asian carp could deal a severe
blow to the commercial and recreational fishing industry of
Lake Michigan.
“The immediate environmental threat to the Great Lakes
requires
Indiana to support our sister
states in this case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
have failed to halt the invasion of the Asian carp that threatens the
freshwater ecosystem supporting one of the greatest fishing bodies of water
on earth; and so legal action is unfortunately necessary,” Zoeller said.
The amicus brief Zoeller’s office is drafting will argue
that the Corps of Engineers and
Illinois should be required to take all
necessary steps to stop the immediate risk of environmental harm to
Lake Michigan. Zoeller’s office is
researching legal and technological options available to halt the spread of
carp from the Chicago River and man-made channels while not unduly impeding
commercial barge traffic near
Northwest Indiana.
“I am sensitive to concerns about the free flow of commerce
along the waterways. In this case, however, the Lake Michigan fishing
industry -- which affects Hoosiers in
Northwest Indiana -- is at stake. Under the
principle of state sovereignty, our office has an obligation to stand with
the other state attorneys general to act swiftly to prevent an environmental
hazard in one state from spreading to another state,” Zoeller said.
The
Indiana attorney general
represents the state’s legal interests in court. By filing his
friend-of-the-court brief in support of Michigan, Zoeller can propose legal
alternatives for the Supreme Court justices to consider as they decide the
dispute between Michigan and Illinois.
The deadline for filing Zoeller’s amicus brief on the
overall merits of the case is Feb. 19, 2010. The U.S. Supreme Court has been
asked by
Michigan to consider a
preliminary injunction before that time.
Michigan
is asking the nation’s highest court to reopen a century-old case to which
Indiana was not a party, so
Indiana’s best option is filing
an amicus brief, Zoeller noted.
Posted 12/30/2009
