Chicago

So it's come to this: we have to poison our waterways to protect our waterways.

Yes, in a development that brings to mind that (possibly apocryphal) saying about a Vietnamese village in the 1960s, it seems that the state of Illinois has agreed to try to keep the invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes by poisoning Chicago-area waterways every time locks are opened to let boats through to Lake Michigan.

The Obama administration this week rolled out a $78 million plan to fight the carp and sought to broker a deal between the governors of Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as federal agencies involved. Illinois wants waterborne commerce to continue, as do shippers, represented by the American Waterways Operators.

Michigan and Wisconsin are terrified that the carp will crowd out Great Lakes native fish -- just as they've done in the Illinois and Mississippi and Lower Missouri rivers, pummeling fisheries that formerly targeted much-more-valuable native fish.

Now, it's a pretty scary prospect that this aggressive Asian carp seems likely to blow past humans' efforts to keep it out of the Great Lakes. That could spell disaster for the native fish living off of America's  "northern coast." And carp DNA -- probably from their poop -- already has been found right at the edge of Lake Michigan.

The fish -- several species, actually -- were brought into this country to control nuisance algae, apparently, but got loose in waterways connected to  the Mississippi River.

[caption id="attachment_4715" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Seems the folks at Greenpeace were also focused on December. Photo courtesy Greenpeace."][/caption]

Well, President Obama should be landing in Copenhagen right around now. His mission: bring the Olympics to Chicago.

There's another job he has that even the president would admit is a lot more important. Sure would be good to see him arriving in Copenhagen in December.

Congress: Are you listening?

-- Robert McClure