John Flesher / Associated Press

Traverse City— The U.S. House rejected a proposal Thursday to force the closure of Chicago-area shipping locks that could provide an opening to the Great Lakes for voracious Asian carp, a potential threat to native fish species and the region’s economy.

By a vote of 292-137, lawmakers defeated a budget bill amendment offered by Republican Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan that would have denied funding to the Army Corps of Engineers to open the two navigational structures. Opponents argued successfully that the locks were vital to commerce and closing them wouldn’t necessarily prevent the unwanted carp from reaching Lake Michigan.

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“It’s a great relief that we were able to defeat this amendment,” said Rep. Judy Biggert, an Illinois Republican. “Its passage would have been devastating to Chicago’s economy and cost thousands of jobs in our region. Worse, it would have been an empty gesture against the carp, doing more to kill jobs than slow down fish.” Michigan and four other states — Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania — are suing in federal court to close the locks and permanently sever the man-made link between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds to prevent invasive species from migrating between them.

Camp and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, previously sponsored bills to close the locks, located on a network of rivers and canals near Chicago where bighead and silver carp have been found. Both are Asian species that escaped from Southern fish farms in the early 1970s and have migrated northward since then.

The carp can reach 4 feet in length and weigh more than 100 pounds. They are prolific and eat huge amounts of plankton, the microscopic plants and

Article source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Transportation/~3/12LrYgCAELw/U.S.-House-rejects-proposal-to-close-Chicago-locks-in-Asian-carp-fight