SINK THE BADGER (by the EPA-taphs)

[XLFD]

Johnny Horton's classic Sink the Bismarck has been remade by the new band led by Administrator Lisa Jackson, the EPA-taphs.  Hope that this band does not come to play in your area.  You may find your backyard a wetland.  The new lyrics follow the video:

 

 

In December of 2012 the war had just finished

LMC had the biggest ferry ran by Bob Manglitz

The Badger was the blackest boat that ever crossed the lake
On her decks fudgies big as steers that left a major wake

Out of a clean water act came Feds up to no good
And every single bureaucrat he knew and understood
They had to sink the Badger the terror of the lake
Stop those fudgies as big as steers and stop that major wake
We'll find the Lake Michigan Carferry that's dumpin' all its ash
We gotta sink the Badger cause its makin' all that cash
Yeah hit the regs a runnin' boys and spin those rules around
When we find the Badger we gotta cut her down
[ ac.guitar ]
The hoods found the Badger, said before that fatal day
The Badger could not dump ash even five miles away
We gotta sink the Badger was the ecologists cry
And when the smoke had cleared away the ash it must be dry
For four long years and some months they tried to clear her discharge
Durbin told the people to make that ship a barge
Cause elsewhere on those waters I know she's not to make
We gotta sink the Badger to the bottom of the lake
We'll junk the pollutin' carferry that's making such a mess

We've got to sink the Badger cause it's a big success

We hit the regs a running and we spun those rules around

Yeah we found the mighty Badger and ran it out of town.
[ ac.guitar ]
The fog was gone the fifth year and they saw the morning sun
Ten minutes away from first trip the Badger made no run
The Admin'strator of the EPA said turn that boat around
We can't have a coal-fired ferry and she's gonna stay aground
The Federal rules were aimed and the lawyers coming fast
The first edict hit the Badger they knew she couldn't last
That mighty coal-fired carferry is just a hulk in port
Sink the Badger was the battle cry never said in court
We found the Lake Michigan Carferry t'was makin' such a mess
We had to sink the Badger cause the EPA knows best

We hit the regs a runnin' and we spun those rules around
Yeah we found the mighty Badger and made two cities drown.

 

On July 9, 1970, citing rising concerns over environmental protection and conservation, President Richard Nixon transmitted Reorganization Plan No. 3 to the United States Congress by executive order, creating the EPA as a single, independent agency from a number of smaller arms of different federal agencies. Prior to the establishment of the EPA, the federal government was not structured to comprehensively regulate environmental pollutants.  Since then, it has the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with state, tribal, and local governments.

The Clean Water Act was effectively created in 1972 regulating what was allowed to be put in the water, with amendments happening in 1977.  The coal-fired SS Badger was put in service in 1953 until 1990, with no problem with the EPA or the CWA.  When Conrad restarted the Badger after a one year hiatus, the propulsion method was unchanged, as it hasn't been since.  But the EPA, energized by the election of Barack Obama and Democrat gains everywhere in late 2008, decided to stop the practice of dumping coal ash offshore, by using their untested powers to permit the Badger from dumping coal ash in to the lake after December 11, 2012. 

Since their 2008 pronouncement, there have been millions of dollars wasted in the struggle to deal with the effects of it.  Some of it has been private money, the amount Lake Michigan Carferry has spent seeking alternatives, lobbying agencies, and in legal expenses is substantial.  But the amount of public money that has been used, both in defending the EPA's side of the issue, and defending the Badger's side, has been even more significant, and needless.  

The Torch has chronicled much of these efforts and expenditures.  A failed attempt by the City of Ludington to help get a grant to convert to diesel, a so-called 'grass roots effort by almost the same cast of characters to raise awareness (which has more raised awareness of the anti-Badgers as a result), and current efforts to get designations that would retain the character of the carferry or effectively grandfather the Badger as the last coal-burning ship.

The following politicians have come out in favor of the Badger and have leant their support (with links to articles):  MI Senator Stabenow, Congressman Bill Huizenga, Congressman Dan Benishek, Senator Carl Levin, Senator Ron Johnson, Congressman Tom Petri, Senator Herb Kohl, Ludington Mayor Henderson  Manitowoc Mayor Nickles.  Similarly, many environmentally friendly politicians including Senator Dick Durbin, along with Muskegon Mayor Warmington  and Milwaukee mayor Barrett. 

 

But potentially the worst is currently happening.  After receiving a grant of $800,000 from the federal  Great Lakes Maritime Agency for conversion (from everyone's tax money), another grant of $75,000 was offered to the Carferry.  This was from an agency funded by Wisconsin tax dollars. 

Even though the Badger's discharge of coal ash slurry has never been scientifically shown to affect  Lake Michigan adversely, despite the long practice of doing so, the government is trying to tell this private company what energy source to use, and provide them with tax money to do so.  The State and Federal government has shown us one thing lately, that they are not good at picking winners in energy policies.  Ray Franz has the right idea: keep capitalistic principles as the driving force behind energy policy.

LMC President Manglitz, I am sure you have a much better business acumen than I, but don't be suckered into subsidization or bullying; fight the EPA.  It can be done successfully, the Sacketts in Idaho showed that this year.  If you lose, then consider this.

That coal you use comes from the ground, and is shipped in by trains and trucks.  When those trains and trucks go back for more, load them up with ash and put the inert ash back in the ground.  Nah, that's too simple.

[Willy]

It is painfully obvious that this is a concerted effort by Lake Express and Muskegon and Milwaukee politicians to derail the Badger. And the reason of course is that Lake Express is not doing so well. I've visited the Lake Express and found it to be a boring enterprise compared to the Badgers operation and I think most people who have taken the Express have come to the same conclusion especially after a rough ride.  If those that seek to eliminate the Badger from Lake Michigan are not stopped then I'm afraid we will have two ships sitting idle at the waterfront. And to think that without Government assistance, Lake Express would not exist in our free market economy. I compare Lake Express to a freeloader who is staying at your house who then tries to kick you out.

[XLFD]

And it's such an incredibly unfair fight.  The EPA, Lake Express proponents from much larger cities, and media-befriended mouthpieces like Durbin can point to the SS Badger and call it a lake-polluting vessel that has took its time in trying to comply with the (newly created) regulations placed in 2008 upon it.  According to them, the Badger has put so much mercury, arsenic, etc. into the lake and our local communities that we should be the first ones to be praising the decision of the EPA to prevent the dumping of coal ash slurry.  We should be wallowing in coal ash gravy down at Stearn's beach, but it's just not so. 

But I can't find anyone around here who actively rails against the Badger-- and the science does not back up the other side.  If they can give some direct correlation between the Badger's emissions and any ecological problem, I might give them some credibility, but it simply does not exist.