The suit - brought by Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania - charges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago with failing to stop movement of the feared invasive species toward the Great Lakes, The Chicago Tribune reports.

It asks the court to close shipping locks temporarily in the Calumet-Sag Channel and the Chicago River while other control methods can be put in place.

In addition to lock closings, the suit calls for the use of nets, physical barriers and fish toxins to control carp movement. It also urges the Army Corps to complete a study looking at severing the Chicago-area shipping corridor that connects Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River watershed within 18 months.

Jim Farrell of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, which has fought to keep shipping locks open, called the lawsuit “a politically motivated filing” and said the Asian carp problem was “under control”.

Mark Biel, executive director of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, said “I commend the Illinois and Indiana Departments of Natural Resources for their scientific, calm reactions to these recent discoveries.

“In an average week, the affected locks transport 140,000 tons of commodities throughout the Midwest and Mississippi Valley. The farmers, business owners, and communities that depend on America’s interconnected waterways cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. The decisions being made today about the fate of the Chicago Waterway System will affect inland waterways from coast to coast.”

Biel said, “We encourage a permanent, comprehensive solution that keeps our waterways open to commerce.”

– Soundings Trade Only on-line newsletter

Five Great Lakes states filed a lawsuit in federal court July 19, 2010, aimed at trying to block Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan, the third attempt through the court system to seek the closing of Chicago-area shipping locks.

The suit - brought by Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylvania - charges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago with failing to stop movement of the feared invasive species toward the Great Lakes, The Chicago Tribune reports.

It asks the court to close shipping locks temporarily in the Calumet-Sag Channel and the Chicago River while other control methods can be put in place.

In addition to lock closings, the suit calls for the use of nets, physical barriers and fish toxins to control carp movement. It also urges the Army Corps to complete a study looking at severing the Chicago-area shipping corridor that connects Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River watershed within 18 months.

Jim Farrell of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, which has fought to keep shipping locks open, called the lawsuit “a politically motivated filing” and said the Asian carp problem was “under control”.

Mark Biel, executive director of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, said “I commend the Illinois and Indiana Departments of Natural Resources for their scientific, calm reactions to these recent discoveries.

“In an average week, the affected locks transport 140,000 tons of commodities throughout the Midwest and Mississippi Valley. The farmers, business owners, and communities that depend on America’s interconnected waterways cannot afford to sit on the sidelines. The decisions being made today about the fate of the Chicago Waterway System will affect inland waterways from coast to coast.”

Biel said, “We encourage a permanent, comprehensive solution that keeps our waterways open to commerce.”

– Soundings Trade Only on-line newsletter