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The pressure is mounting on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pick up the pace in its efforts to find a long-term fix to protect the Great Lakes from an Asian carp invasion.

A coalition of Great Lakes states has already taken the Army Corps to court to force the agency to expedite its ongoing study looking at ways to block species migration between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin.

On Monday, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced that attorneys general have now formed a 17-state coalition that includes states as far west as Wyoming to press the Army Corps to do more in the fight to contain the giant, jumping carp.

The coalition, which includes Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, sent a letter to Congress urging members to pass a piece of legislation that would force the agency to move up its targeted deadline for the study from the end of 2015 to the end of 2012.

The legislation also calls on President Barack Obama to appoint a specific individual to oversee the study to ensure it gets done by the new deadline and to compel the Army Corps to change the focus of the study from one that will "reduce the risk" of species spreading to one that will "prevent" the spread between the Mississippi basin and the Great Lakes. The natural separation between those two systems was destroyed over a century ago when Chicago linked the two with the construction of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.

While historically there were marshy areas where the waters of the two basins could mix during floods and an analysis shows there remain a number of potential pathways for species to spill between the Mississippi and Great Lakes, conservationists and Illinois' neighboring states maintain that by far the biggest threat at the moment is the 160-foot wide, 20-foot deep Chicago canal.

But now the worry about the consequences of leaving the pathway open has spread outside the region.

Attorneys general in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming endorsed the push for separation.

"These states understand that the job-killing invasive species flowing freely though the wide-open doorway in Chicago must be stopped now," Schuette said in a news release.

"Immediate federal action is needed to halt the spread of invasive species," Van Hollen said in a statement. "The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has recognized the threat but stopped short of providing much needed relief, and that's why I urge Congressional leaders to take the next necessary step to ensure Wisconsin's ecosystems and economy, and those of other states, are protected."

The fear stretches beyond Asian carp. The Army Corps has targeted dozens of unwanted species that could move between the basins unless something is done to plug the potential pathways.

The Army Corps could not be reached for comment.