A Lansing-area state legislator is urging federal environmental officials to get tough with the coal-fired SS Badger.
The company that owns the popular Lake Michigan tourist ferryboat is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to extend an exemption that allows it to burn coal and dump tons of ashes into the lake.
Republican Senator Rick Jones of Grand Ledge says a 2008 exemption has given Lake Michigan Carferry enough time to convert from coal.
"They have not done it," he says. "I'm asking the EPA to stop it now. We cannot allow Lake Michigan to be polluted."
Calls and e-mails to Lake Michigan Carferry for comment were not returned in time for this story.
On its website, the company says it has been working to convert 'The Badger' from coal and that testing has shown the ashes do not harm the environment.