By Susan Harley, Michigan Policy Director
I spent my Memorial Day weekend in Ludington, MI enjoying Lake Michigan’s sandy beaches, dog-friendly hiking trails, and quaint downtown shops. One evening, as I savored my House of Flavors scoop on the way to the waterfront to snap some sunset pics, I spotted a pillar of black smoke billowing from behind trees, about a mile away. At first it looked like a fire, but as I got closer, it was clear the smoke was from a ferry docked at the waterfront.
I’d heard about the infamous, polluting S.S. Badger car ferry, but had never seen it up close. I’d seen the
videos of the ferry dumping tons of coal ash directly into Lake Michigan, but to be confronted with its stinking pollution while trying to enjoy my vacation made me angry. Looking around at the playgrounds full of laughing children and streets of strolling tourists exposed to the Badger’s pollution made me want to join the litany of voices that are saying its free-for-all coal ash dumping needs to be stopped. Now.
Memorial Day weekend marks the start of the sailing season of the S.S. Badger. If I had anything to say about it, it would be its last. The ferry has been allowed to operate its “historic” (or, rather, obsolete) coal-fired engine even though it dumps over
four tons (8,000 pounds!) of toxic coal ash into Lake Michigan
every single day during its five-month-long operating season. That’s over 509 tons of coal ash being dumped directly into
our Lake Michigan every year. Adding insult to injury, the Badger’s president, Bob Manglitz, claims coal ash is
equivalent to sand. I’m not sure what beach he hangs out on, but coal ash is nothing like sand. It’s full of
dangerous chemicals and heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury, and lead. There’s also toxic
Hexavalent Chromium, made famous by Erin Brockovich. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), exposure to drinking water containing coal ash pollution may cause cancer rates as high as one in fifty persons.
I prefer my sand without carcinogens, how about you?
Coal ash is so dangerous that EPA is
in the process of writing rules to protect public health from its hazardous properties. Unfortunately,
polluters and their allies in Congress are doing everything they can to stop EPA. The
Tennessee coal ash disaster in 2008 and the Wisconsin spill that dumped ash into
Lake Michigan in 2011 showed us all that coal ash storage areas are time-bombs waiting to go off.
Not only is the ongoing daily water pollution from the car ferry’s daily dumping of coal ash a terrible affront to our “Pure Michigan” way of life, but the residents and visitors of Ludington are also being exposed to elevated levels of harmful air pollution. Exposure to air pollution from burning coal is very dangerous, causing health impacts such as premature death, non-fatal heart attacks, stroke, as well as exacerbating asthma and other cardiovascular issues.
As the rest of the nation is examining the best way to protect public health from coal ash pollution, the S.S. Badger is
attempting to score a
politically-maneuvered loophole for itself and get a special permit to allow it to continue dumping coal ash into Lake Michigan.
There are other options available to the company such as ceasing to dispose of the ash in Lake Michigan and taking it to a landfill. Or, the company could power the ship with technology such as a clean diesel engine. Instead, the company has given lip service to powering the boat with natural gas, though it admits that is likely cost- and technology- prohibitive. There’s nothing like finding an impossible “solution” to a problem as a way to ensure the status quo.
In the meantime, the Badger will continue to belch contaminants into Ludington’s air and the aging ferry will continue to pollute Lake Michigan with thousands of pounds of ash every day.
If we don’t stop them now, the owners of the SS Badger will keep pushing their idea of tourism on us for years to come:
“Pure Michigan: where you can swim at arsenic beaches and have a dusting of coal ash on your ice cream.”
That’s not the kind of freedom Memorial Day stands for in my book.
