SS Badger Loses Legislative Battle

[XLFD]

Mlive reports:  The Senate removed the Huizenga-Petri special language approved by the GOP-controlled House in the face of opposition from Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the No. 2 member of the Democratically-controlled Senate.  The Badger's fate now lies squarely in the hands of the EPA, who can issue or deny them a permit for operating under the status quo.  If that fails, the only thing that can save them is  the determination of Lake Michigan Carferry to weather the roughest storm it has yet seen.

 

LUDINGTON, MI – Media outlets covering Congress are reporting Wednesday that the U.S. House of Representatives has adopted the Senate version of a Coast Guard re-authorization bill leaving out a special provision for the S.S. Badger.

The Ludington-based S.S. Badger is hoping to resume operations in the spring of 2013, sailing from Ludington to Manitowoc, Wis.File photo

According to congressional reports, the House move will send the $7 billion bill on to President Barack Obama for his signature. The final version does not include special language designed to provide a lifelong exemption for the historic S.S. Badger to allow the Lake Michigan ferry to continue dumping coal ash into Lake Michigan.

Congressmen Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland and Tom Petri, R-Wisconsin, put the special language in the House bill that was stripped out by the Senate and did not survive the conference committee between the two chambers, according to The Hill – the capital news outlet.

New York Times congressional correspondent Jonathan Wiesman, in a blog posting Wednesday noon, summed up the Lake Michigan Carferry’s options for operating next s... as two-fold: Receive a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discharge permit allowing the coal ash dumping to continue or quickly retrofit the Badger with a new engine system or coal-storage technology.

Without either the EPA permit or changes to the Badger, the Ludington-to-Manitowoc ferry would be left at the dock next May when the 2013 sailing season is scheduled to begin. The Badger’s current discharge permit expires Dec. 19.

The Senate removed the Huizenga-Petri special language approved by the GOP-controlled House in the face of opposition from Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the No. 2 member of the Democratically-controlled Senate. Durbin has said he opposes continued Badger dumping of coal ash due into Lake Michigan considering the Lake Michigan Carferry owners had several years to address their environmental problem.

Lake Michigan Carferry President Robert Manglitz told MLive and The Muskegon Chronicle last month that he remains optimistic that the Badger will receive the needed EPA p... and will begin its 2013 season next spring.

courtesy: http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/12/reports_specia...

 

[XLFD]

The only group I can think of that might be worse in making this decision for the Badger is the Lake Express owners.  Expect hard deadlines if they do extend this permit.

[easymoney]

Hate to add my sentiments, but, I guess you can say your farewells to the car ferry system out of Ludington. I worked on them back in the sixty's, the best paying job in the area.

Once the tree huggers get started, there is no stopping them.

Check out the 100 year old oyster factory just forced to close, thanks to the Seira club(sp?) Even Diane Finstien couldn't keep it open, after proving the false findings and false imformation used to shut it down.

 

[XLFD]

I dare project that the carferry will continue into next year even when the EPA comes down on LMC by not issuing a permit.  They will store and get rid of the coal ash.  If it proves feasible by the end of the year, they will continue burning coal into the future.  Just an educated guess, but I'm reading tea leaves.

[AQUAMAN]

I'm guessing your educated guess is correct X, at least for the near future. Many don't either recognize or remember that this coal ash can be trucked off the Badger and put elsewhere upland in Manitowoc, it's already been explored. It will add an extra cost to the price of doing business, and as such, expect passenger rates to increase when and if this comes about. I'm hoping a last ditch reversal will happen, or at least a permit continuance.

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

Fly Ash as it is known by in some circles has alternative uses in Farming and Such as a PH balancing substance. Also as filler in some cement forms. ( for those of you who will argue about possible releases of the trace amounts of heavy metals found in every type of earth on this planet). I really think they will pay the monies to transport it to a place that will use it for just such a purpose.

Why is it when the earths volcano's blow up throwing far more so called toxins into the air its nature. Current volcanic activity puts far more carbon and heavy metals into the current environment that man does. but when man harnesses such items for production, we try to regulate it costing many of us good paying jobs? The narrative doesn't fit I guess.

[Willy]

Who at the EPA is making this decision. The director, a committee, a secretary? The news keeps citing   "The EPA". I would  like to know who at the EPA is forcing the Badger out of business? Does anyone have a clue?

[XLFD]

The EPA is an arm of the executive branch, originally created under the Nixon administration back in 1970 to deal with strictly environmental concerns.  Here is their history.

From its humble origin, it now is able to circumvent the other branches of government to exert their own influence.  It's highly undemocratic, and generally they follow the President's own political bend.

But beyond that, there is a bit of what should be good news and on the front page of the local newspapers for all of you Badger lovers.  According to Pat McCarthy, Lake Michigan Carferry VP of Shore Operations had an announcement at yesterday's Ludington Rotary Club Meeting. 

“The EPA can’t deny the application if it meets all of the parameters.  We are 100 percent certain that we will be sailing in 2013. If the EPA were to deny it, we have a fail safe back up plan.”

Although he would not further elaborate on this alternative, he did go into other possibilities the Badger may eventually consider.  Read it all here at the Mason County Press.  Not the COLDNews.

Unless Mr. McCarthy is pulling everyone's leg, I take that as a guarantee the Badger will be sailing in 2013.

[Willy]

Thanks X. “The EPA can’t deny the application if it meets all of the parameters,” McCarthy said. That's funny. He obviously hasn't dealt with Washington to often. The EPA can do whatever they want. The fact of the matter is Lake Express wants to get rid of the Badger and has the backing of officials on both sides of the Lake to do just that. He hasn't figured out yet why the big push to have the last coal burning ship in the U.S. dry docked. The Badger's discharge meets the required safety guidelines now so what's changed. The sooner the Badger is put to pasture the sooner Lake Express can double their passengers and possibly double or triple their fleet with Government backed loans to boot.

Using LNG has never been done on a ship and Mr. McCarthy hasn't connected the dots as to who will be approving that type of untested fuel on water vessels. I'm sure the EPA will be heavily involved in that decision and Badger's opposition will be pulling EPA's strings to see that Lake Michigan Car Ferry does not get approval to use that type of fuel. I hope I'm wrong.

[XLFD]

Au contraire, Willy, but not on the analysis of the likely denial of the permit by the EPA.  A United Nations agenda to cut ship fuel emissions, Obama's reelection, high-powered opponents, and the EPA's current leadership will almost assuredly nix the permit, even if LMC has given 110% of all the parameters. 

There does exist LNG powered ships, I am not sure whether any are owned by USA interests, but this 2010 Bloomberg's article tells of 100 ships operating at that point under LNG propulsion and an impending boom, including proposed oil freighters.  The article also notes: 

"Vessels must cut sulfur-oxide emissions in some regions to 0.1 percent starting in January 2015, down from 1 percent today, as stipulated by the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ shipping division."  The EPA is wary of those directives from the UN, and will likely hold them as more important than the SS Badger's local economic impact.

[Willy]

I guess we are getting conflicting information. My understanding is that there is only 1 LNG powered ship as of this year and that is a Norwegian ship.   http://www.marineinsight.com/marine/marine-news/headline/ms-hoydal-... I haven't found any information about other ships. There are plans to build more but those are in the works. I found no information of any coal fired ships that have been converted to LNG and no other ships in the current U.S. fleet that operate on LNG.

[XLFD]

If we presume that both of our links are telling us the truth, I would guess that your link defined the word "ship" in this sense in a more stricter sense.  In the Bloomberg's article, you cannot determine what size or capacity the 100 ships in existence were.  It may have covered small personal watercraft, and concept vessels, not anything in the magnitude of the Norse transport. 

I could find very little myself on the existence of LNG ships, just carriers of LNG, so the Bloomberg article I quoted is suspect in its accuracy.

[Willy]

It may be that the LNG carrier ships are powered by LNG. I'm going to check into that.