SR0098 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0098 LRB098 07300 JDS 37363 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Lake Michigan Car Ferry, Inc., owns and operates the S.S. Badger, a 410-foot steam-powered car ferry that sails between Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan, approximately 134 days each year; and

WHEREAS, Every day that the S.S. Badger operates it dumps into Lake Michigan nearly 4 tons of coal ash, which contains arsenic, lead, mercury, and other metals that can damage aquatic ecosystems; and

WHEREAS, The quantity of that discharge exceeds the combined coal, iron, and limestone discharges of the 125 other large freighters operating in the Great Lakes; and

WHEREAS, The S.S. Badger currently operates under a 2008 National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit that authorizes it to continue dumping coal ash into Lake Michigan until December 19, 2012; and

WHEREAS, During the drafting of the 2008 Vessel General Permit, Lake Michigan Car Ferry, Inc., indicated that it would take steps to eliminate its coal ash discharges before December 19, 2012; and

WHEREAS, Lake Michigan Car Ferry, Inc., did not take those actions and has subsequently sought approval from the United States Environmental Protection Agency to continue dumping this hazardous material into Lake Michigan for another four years under an individual NPDES permit; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency to protect the aquatic ecosystems that sustain life in and around Lake Michigan by denying Lake Michigan Car Ferry's NPDES individual permit application for the S.S. Badger; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Administrator of Region 5 of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Illinois Congressional delegation.