“Like Godzilla coming out of the sea of Japan ready to eat Tokyo”
March 1, 2010 by Phil Noble
Filed under Recent Posts
by Lauren Furtney, Cowboy State Free Press Reporter
“Like Godzilla coming out of the sea of Japan ready to eat Tokyo” was how Sen. Kit Jennings, R-Natrona County, described the invasive mussels that are being addressed in the Aquatic Invasive Species Act.
These invasive species have been one of the leading topics of concern in this legislative session as legislators have worked on strategies to keep the mussels out of Wyoming’s waters. House Bill 18 outlines methods of controlling water entries, state borders, and boat inspections to prevent the entrance of the quagga and zebra mussels into the state.
Sen. Jennings stressed the severity of the possible implications of the mussels getting into Wyoming waters, saying “they glue themselves onto anything they can find…they’ll cover a surface and clog up dams, rivers, bridges, and pipes,” continuing that they grow and spread. He concluded his introduction by stating that “once you get them, you’ve got them.”
Sen. Grant Larson, R-Teton/Fremont Counties, followed by reiterating that “all the money that we are spending on water projects, if this invasive species gets in it’ll all go down the drain.”
The Senate voted on the funding of the bill, and passed an amendment that gives $1.5 million from the General Fund to Wyoming Game and Fish for the specific purpose of invasive species control, and $384,267 from the General Fund to the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources to support inspections, law enforcement, and booth coverage for selling boat permits.
Sen. Phil Nicholas, R-Albany County, Co-chair of the Joint Appropriations Committee, opposed this amendment, declaring that although he understood the importance of this issue, he disagreed with adding extra funds for the “ramping up” of the state parks and addition of a lot of extra jobs, that they need to know what they’re doing first and how to do it. Sen. Nicholas suggested working into the project rather than immediately adding the additional $384,267 of funding. “Throwing money at a problem won’t fix it,” Nicholas said.
The Invasive Species Act made it through its first reading in the Senate with the additional funding intact.
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[...] Utah and Nevada have discovered quagga mussels in their waters. According to ISDA, quagga mussels can damage pipes and other infrastructure and consume plankton in waters that deprive other animals’ food supply. The Wyoming Legislature recently approved a similar program to combat aquatic invasive species. One Wyoming lawmaker compared the invasive mussels to “Godzilla coming out of the sea of Japan ready to eat Tokyo,” according to the Cowboy State Free…. [...]