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INTRO: Today, Atty General Mike Cox will hold a town hall style meeting in Grand Rapids. He’s involved in the effort to stop the invasive Asian carp. So far it has been non-partisan. Almost no one in Michigan is saying—-“do nothing.” But with election season on, Republicans are recruiting some all stars for this issue. Michigan Now’s Chris McCarus followed two politicians on the trail to Benton Harbor.
Thursday morning, The New York Times quoted Michigan’s Attorney General. The federal plan to stop the Asian carp is just “half-measures and gimmicks,” Mike Cox said. Also Thursday morning, Cox was hosting a meeting of concerned citizens, mainly people who work in the Lake Michigan fishing and tourism business.
“Our office has been fighting invasive species for the past seven years. We’ve filed a number of federal lawsuits and were successful. We’re now forcing the coastguard and the EPA to treat it as a biological pollutant, invasive species, and get ballast on board regulation.”
The day before, Cox was in Ypsilanti for a similar town hall meeting. But out of the 200 people who came, many were from Illinois. And they were angry at Mike Cox for asking the Supreme Court to close the locks in Chicago. This crowd in the St. Joseph library was just the opposite. Several said thank you Mike and thank you Fred, meaning Congressman Fred Upton. He was born and raised in St. Joe.
“You might remember the refinery there in Whiting, Indiana a year or two ago. To implement more spending so they would not have the discharge into Lake Michigan. Together, collectively as a Great Lakes caucus we worked to make sure that that happened.”
So the caucus is working together again, Upton said, to stop the Asian carp from entering the lake. So what is Michigan’s plan? People asked. Can we catch tons of them and sell them? Can we close the fish ladders so they don’t come inland on the St. Joseph, Grand or other Michigan rivers? Cox deferred most technical questions to Dr. Kelley Smith. He’s the Fisheries Division Chief of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The new DNRE.
“if we could purchase enough rotenone and get enough people we cold nuke that whole thing.”
Smith means nuke the canals that flow into Lake Michigan from Illinois. Rotenone is the poison that was poured into the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in December. It killed tons of native fish and probably Asian carp. But some escaped.
“Basically kill 80% of what was in there. But rotenone doesn’t get ‘em all.”
Stopasiancarp.com is a website Mike Cox has created. It shows a spectacular video from CNN. Asian carp fly out of the Illinois River. Two different fish whack the reporter in the shoulder. The site also has Detroit Rock and Roll Legend Ted Nugent. He maintains an office on Michigan Avenue in Jackson called Tedquarters. But he moved to George Bush’s hometown of Crawford, Texas 5 years ago.
“Hey this is Ted Nugent your Michigan blood brother. Our mighty Great Lakes are under attack by a destructive invasive species called Asian carp. If we don’t act now today our beloved outdoor lifestyle that makes Michigan special and provides thousands of jobs will be destroyed. Help me save the Great Lakes by signing the petition telling Washington D.C. to shut down the carp infested waterways that are spilling into Michigan right now. Go to stopasiancarp.com. Serious life and death stuff my friends in Michigan.”
Congressman Vern Ehlers is not running for re-election. But he has strong environmental credentials and today he’ll be holding a meeting on Asian carp open to the public. It’s at the Gerald Ford Museum Auditorium. And Mike Cox, who’s running for governor, will be the co-host. Republican Assault on Carp
