Chicago Shipping Canal To Remain Open: Will This Enable A Great Lakes, BP-Type Moment?

The US Army Corps of Engineers said "no" to closing the shipping canal through which the ultra-predatory Asian Carp could migrate into Lake Michigan from the Mississippi River.

The canal artificially connects the Mississippi watershed to the Great Lakes. Many experts believe if the carp reach the Great Lakes - - having already swum north from fish farms in the south, infested Illinois rivers and left DNA perilously close to Lake Michigan - - they will decimate commercial and recreational fish populations, along with the economics surrounding those activities.

Let's hope that this decision and the years of foot-dragging that has proceeded does not set the stage for a long-term environmental and economic calamity not unlike what is degrading the Gulf states right now.