The intention of the scientists is protecting the environment for today's and tomorrow's children, specifically the waters and shores of Lake Michigan and the air we all breath. The irony of utilizing children of the community to press the government into allowing continued pollution of their own back yard is ludicrous. I wonder if the group photo will be shot in front of the idled Badger with no billowing smoke emitting from her stack?

The Badger would have to operate for tens of thousands of years for it to have the negative environmental impact that some "environmentalists" claim it has. Burning coal does pollute,I'm not saying it doesn't. Clearly many people are unaware of the number of carferries that used to cross Lake Michigan, and yet we are all still here, enjoying clean water at our beach, breathing clean air. The Badger does pollute, but it is hardly on a scale that has a large environmental impact, and for a significant portion of our community, the economic impact of having the Badger shut down far out weighs the environmental impact. I live in Ludington, was was born and raised here, as were my parents, and am raising my family here, and do not want to see the Badger shut down. I have no problem with them burning coal until it feasable for them to convert to an alternate fuel.

Aaron, its really easy to come on and just say, it will take tens of thousands of years for it to have a negative impact without any facts. The problem is that they were told to change and the owners ignored the warnings thinking they would be saved and didn't put any effort to change the badger. If it gets shut down, the government isn't to blame but the residents, it would fall all on the owners of the badger.

Congrats to the kids at sandcastles.....they are working harder to save the Badger than Rep. Huizinga is.....