LANSING, Mich., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A legal effort to keep Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes via canals linking the lakes to the Mississippi River won't die, a Michigan official says.
Bill Schuette, who just took office as Michigan's attorney general, said Tuesday he will pursue the lawsuit brought by his predecessor, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin support the court action, while Illinois opposes it.
Mike Cox, the former Michigan attorney general, sought a court order closing two navigation locks in Chicago and a long-range policy of shutting off the network of canals that connect the Mississippi and the lakes.
A federal judge refused to order an emergency lock closing in December.
Asian carp, ravenous vigorous fish with few natural enemies in the Mississippi, have spread rapidly. There is no evidence they have penetrated into Lake Michigan, but ecologists fear if they do they could quickly wipe out native species in the Great Lakes.
