New ash-dumping deadline for SS Badger

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP/WOOD) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is giving the nation's last operating coal-fired steamship two more years to stop dumping waste ash into Lake Michigan.

EPA previously ordered Lake Michigan Carferry to stop coal ash discharges from the S.S. Badger by last December. But the agency said Friday the two sides had reached a proposed agreement which includes --

• LMC and any subsequent owner or operator of the Badger must permanently cease discharging coal ash or coal ash slurry from the Badger into any waters of the United States on and after the first day of the calendar year 2015 operating season
• On or before June 1, 2013, LMC must submit a schedule to the EPA for the design of a system to eliminate the discharge of coal ash or coal ash slurry
• The Badger must reduce the amount of coal ash or ash slurry discharge during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. The EPA and the Badger agree to new limits to cover this timeframe
• 2014 discharges must be 15% lower than 2013 discharges
• Operators of the Badger will pay a $25,000 civil penalty to the United States
• The agreement lays out a series of fines that will be levied if the Badger fails to meet the requirements of the agreement

The agreement is not final. It must be placed in the federal register, and there will be a 30-day period for public comment on the proposed deal.

The government has the right to withdraw the agreement if it later determines the deal is "inappropriate, improper, or inadequate."

Regional administrator Susan Hedman says the agreement is the fastest and most certain way to halt the ash dumping. Carferry owner Bob Manglitz says the agreement will save the jobs of its 200 employees.

The 60-year-old ferryboat hauls cars and people across the lake between Ludington and Manitowoc, Wis., between May and October.