Asian carp: Michigan asks Supreme Court to shut 2 corridors to Great Lakes

Contending that Illinois officials have been too lax in defending Lake Michigan from Asian carp, Attorney General Mike Cox asked the U.S. Supreme Court for immediate action in closing the O'Brien Lock and Dam in the Calumet-Sag Channel and the Chicago Controlling Works in the Illinois River -- hoping to seal off the most direct route for fish entering Lake Michigan.

"We don't want to have to look back years later when (Asian carp) have gotten into Lake Michigan and say, 'What was the matter with us? We should have done something,' " Cox said. "Clearly, (closing) the locks are easiest, the most reliable and the most effective steps we can take in short run."

Gov. Pat Quinn declined to say whether he favored closing the locks, but said: "We have to protect the ecology of the Great Lakes; we also have many, many jobs that depend on shipping, so there has to be a proper balance.

"There are ways of preventing the carp from getting into the Great Lakes without strangling our economy."

The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the locks and is a co-defendant in the lawsuit, declined to comment.