PA Environment Digest

Attorney General Linda Kelly has joined with the Attorneys General from five other Great Lakes states in an effort to expand a coalition to fight aquatic invasive species like Asian carp and Zebra mussels.

Kelly said the Great Lakes attorneys general are reaching out to colleagues in 27 other states that are affected by aquatic invasive species, asking that they join together in a coordinated effort to develop a permanent ecological separation between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin.

The Great Lakes campaign includes Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, along with Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly.

"Invasive species are not just a concern for communities surrounding the Great Lakes, but are a potential hazard to numerous other waterways in states all across the country," Kelly said. "It is vital that we work together to craft a coordinated, comprehensive response to this growing ecological and economic threat."

According to the Great Lakes attorneys general, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a list in July 2011 of 40 aquatic invasive species with the highest risk of traveling between the lakes and the Mississippi basin. Thirty of those species are considered a high-risk to the Mississippi River and ten, including Asian carp, are high-risk to the Great Lakes Basin.

The Great Lakes attorneys general are reaching out to 27 states that have already been affected by invasive species first introduced to the United States via the Great Lakes. The current connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin through the Chicago Area Waterway System has allowed harmful invasive species like the Zebra and Quagga mussels to spread, causing significant economic and ecological harm to states on both sides.

Affected states include those with territory on waterways along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, as well as those as far west as Nevada, who have seen these same alien species then brought into their waters, most likely on boats that picked them up in the Mississippi Basin.

The coalition of attorneys general will urge Congress to require federal officials to move aggressively for a permanent ecological separation to address the urgency of the threats posed by biological invasions in both directions.

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