LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox joined a group of other Great Lakes attorneys general in a conference call with officials with the Department of Justice to talk about stopping the Asian carp migration.

The Obama Administration plans to spend $78-million to keep the invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes, but the plan does not include permanently closing locks in Chicago in a canal that would be the carp's access to Lake Michigan. Scientists believe the massive carp, which eats 40-percent of it's body weight a day, would hurt other fish populations and therefore the billion-dollar fishing and tourism industries.

Cox says the commercial shipping-cost would be far less than the devastation to the Great Lakes economy. "At most, shutting down the locks permanently would cost the greater Chicago area $70 million, so that's on the one hand," Cox said in a phone conference with reporters. "On the other hand, according to independent estimates, it places at risk $7 billion plus dollars of the Great Lakes economy."

Cox could not provide specific details of the talks today, saying the AG's are in confidential negotiations for a possible settlement with the Department of Justice.