MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ) – One of Wisconsin’s two car ferries across Lake Michigan says it will be ready to follow a long-delayed federal order to stop dumping coal ash into the water this year.
The owners of the S.S. Badger ferry from Manitowoc to Ludington Michigan expect the boat to be in compliance by May 15th, when it starts making trips in 2015.
Senior engineer Chuck Cart says the new coal ash retention system still needs to be assembled on the car deck of the 410-foot steamship.
Cart tells the Ludington Daily News it should take about six weeks to finish a conveyor system to transport ash from the ship’s boiler to four containment bins. An updated combustion system was added last winter.
The projects are part of the Badger’s investment of $2 million over the past two years.
Meanwhile, the coal ash will not go to waste. Chuck Leonard, vice president of the Lake Michigan Car Ferry, says the firm plans to market the coal ash for use in making cement.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
