Sorry Scott, even Congressional Republicans balked at dumping Coal Ash in Lake Michigan.

If you ever wanted to get an idea of how bad the mining bill is going to be, look no further than the Walker Authority’s support for dumping coal ash in the Midwest’s fresh water supply, Lake Michigan.

Republican Rep. Tom Petri supported dumping so much, he co-sponsored an amendment to continue the coal ash dumping, for what else, “jobs.” Well then,  that’s okay? The amendment was removed because it was an "ear mark," now banned, thanks to the Republicans. 

jsonline: Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) had introduced an amendment co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wis.) that would allow the nearly 60-year-old ship to keep operating - specifically, to allow any such ship that is listed as a National Historic Landmark.

Gov. Scott Walker has expressed his support for the Badger, which drew criticism from Sheldon Lubar, an owner of the Lake Express and a political contributor to Walker.

Petri's spokesman Niel Wright said Petri wanted to keep the Badger operating because of its economic benefits in two states. "We have a good number of jobs in Manitowoc that are under threat because of this," Wright said. "Mr. Petri thinks that the pollution is really minimal and it's important for our economic livelihood."

I found only one Walker thug in the comments section, supporting “jobs” at all cost:

Thinkrightnow: Obama's EPA has the SS Badger in its sight. More jobs eliminated soon. Instead of increasing revenues by taxing the rich how about increasing revenues by growing the number of jobs instead of eliminating them???

But inaction and bad decision making by the operators of the SS Badger, and support by state Republicans, will have a ripple effect, something they should have thought about if they were so concerned with "jobs." Check out this sympathetic news coverage that came close to bring out the handkerchiefs:

NBC26: Jason Ring is the president of the Manitowoc Visitor and Convention Bureau (is) concerned about the $14-million it pumps into the economy each year."That's a big number. We can't make that up easily in other ways. It would be like shutting a street down that brings traffic into a community," Ring said.