BP wants to pollute the lake-Thread, How much more pollution in the lake would you like? |
BP wants to pollute the lake-Thread, How much more pollution in the lake would you like? |
Jul 16 2007, 09:19 AM
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Spends WAY too much time at CBTL Group: Admin Posts: 16,460 Joined: 8-December 06 From: Michigan City, IN Member No.: 2 |
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi...ll=chi-news-hed
QUOTE BP gets break on dumping in lake Refinery expansion entices Indiana By Michael Hawthorne Tribune staff reporter Published July 15, 2007 The massive BP oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., is planning to dump significantly more ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan, running counter to years of efforts to clean up the Great Lakes. Indiana regulators exempted BP from state environmental laws to clear the way for a $3.8 billion expansion that will allow the company to refine heavier Canadian crude oil. They justified the move in part by noting the project will create 80 new jobs. Under BP's new state water permit, the refinery -- already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes -- can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals. The refinery will still meet federal water pollution guidelines. But federal and state officials acknowledge this marks the first time in years that a company has been allowed to dump more toxic waste into Lake Michigan. BP, which aggressively markets itself as an environmentally friendly corporation, is investing heavily in Canadian crude oil to reduce its reliance on sources in the Middle East. Extracting petroleum from the thick goop is a dirtier process than conventional methods. It also requires more energy that could significantly increase greenhouse gases linked to global warming. Environmental groups and dozens of neighbors pleaded with BP to install more effective pollution controls at the nation's fourth-largest refinery, which rises above the lakeshore about 3 miles southeast of the Illinois-Indiana border. "We're not necessarily opposed to this project," said Lee Botts, founder of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. "But if they are investing all of these billions, they surely can afford to spend some more to protect the lake." State and federal regulators, though, agreed last month with the London-based company that there isn't enough room at the 1,400-acre site to upgrade the refinery's water treatment plant. The company will now be allowed to dump an average of 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of sludge into Lake Michigan every day. The additional sludge is the maximum allowed under federal guidelines. Company officials insisted they did everything they could to keep more pollution out of the lake. "It's important for us to get our product to market with minimal environmental impact," said Tom Keilman, a BP spokesman. "We've taken a number of steps to improve our water treatment and meet our commitments to environmental stewardship." BP can process more than 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily at the plant, which was built in 1889 by John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Co. Total production is expected to grow by 15 percent by the time the expansion project is finished in 2011. In sharp contrast to the greenways and parks that line Lake Michigan in Chicago, a string of industrial behemoths lie along the heavily polluted southern shore just a few miles away. The steady flow of oil, grease and chemicals into the lake from steel mills, refineries and factories -- once largely unchecked -- drew national attention that helped prompt Congress to pass the Clean Water Act during the early 1970s. Paul Higginbotham, chief of the water permits section at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, said that when BP broached the idea of expanding the refinery, it sought permission to pump twice as much ammonia into the lake. The state ended up allowing an amount more than the company currently discharges but less than federal or state limits. He said regulators still are unsure about the ecological effects of the relatively new refining process BP plans to use. "We ratcheted it down quite a bit from what it could have been," Higginbotham said. The request to dump more chemicals into the lake ran counter to a provision of the Clean Water Act that prohibits any downgrade in water quality near a pollution source even if discharge limits are met. To get around that rule, state regulators are allowing BP to install equipment that mixes its toxic waste with clean lake water about 200 feet offshore. Actively diluting pollution this way by creating what is known as a mixing zone is banned in Lake Michigan under Indiana law. Regulators granted BP the first-ever exemption. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been pushing to eliminate mixing zones around the Great Lakes on the grounds that they threaten humans, fish and wildlife. Yet EPA officials did not object to Indiana's decision, agreeing with the state that BP's project would not harm the environment. Federal officials also did not step in when the state granted BP another exemption that enables the company to increase water pollution as long as the total amount of wastewater doesn't change. BP said its flow into Lake Michigan will remain about 21 million gallons a day. In response to public protests, state officials justified the additional pollution by concluding the project will create more jobs and "increase the diversity and security of oil supplies to the Midwestern United States." A rarely invoked state law trumps anti-pollution rules if a company offers "important social or economic benefits." In the last four months, more than 40 people e-mailed comments to Indiana officials about BP's water permit. One of the few supportive messages came from Kay Nelson, environmental director of the Northwest Indiana Forum, an economic development organization that includes a BP executive among its board of directors. She hailed the company's discussions with state and community leaders as a model for others to follow. Nearly all of the other comments, though, focused on the extra pollution in Lake Michigan. "This is exactly the type of trade-off that we can no longer allow," wrote Shannon Sabel of West Lafayette, Ind. "Possible lower gas prices (I'll believe that when I see it!) against further contamination of our water is as shortsighted as it is irrational." --------- mhawthorne@tribune.com |
Jul 20 2007, 01:36 PM
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Spends WAY too much time at CBTL Group: Admin Posts: 5,171 Joined: 11-December 06 From: Indiana Member No.: 10 |
And now comes the BP Fluff to shut us up.....
QUOTE http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=55455.72 BP Rebukes Reports It's Discharging Sludge Into Lake WHITING, Ind. - An official at the BP refinery in Whiting has disputed the idea that the company discharges sludge directly into Lake Michigan. Reports this week revealed permits granted by a state agency allow BP to increase the volume of sludge and ammonia discharged into the lake to 4,925 pounds of sludge per day, and 1,584 pounds of ammonia per day. Dan Sajkowski, BP Whiting Refinery business unit leader, in a statement, said the discharged is fine particles that aren't filtered out in the plant's water treatment system. He disputed news reports saying the company discharged "sludge." "That is not true. The refinery does not and will not discharge sludge into the lake. The refinery discharges only treated water into the lake. Treated wastewater is more than 99.999 percent water. The remainder is salt, nutrients, organics and inorganics that are not dissolved in water ... All wastewater sludges are treated separately, according to state and federal requirements, and never discharged to Lake Michigan," Sajkowski said. Regarding ammonia, the new permit allows the refinery's average ammonia discharge to increase from 1,030 pounds per day to 1,584 pounds per day. However, Sajkowski said, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines could allow as much as 3,358 pounds per day, more than double the refinery's newly permitted ammonia discharge limit. "Also, it is important to remember that these permit numbers are maximum limits; on a daily average basis, actual discharges by the Whiting Refinery are substantially less." The limits imposed by regulations are based upon best available technology, refinery size and complexity, he said. "Every step has been done properly, in full public view and with the oversight of regulators whose guidelines ensure that aquatic and human life are protected," Sajkowski said. The new IDEM permits, with higher allowable sludge and ammonia discharges, were sought because the BP refinery is increasing the amount of crude oil from Canada, which contains more materials to remove in the process. "Through upgrades at Whiting, BP will be able to process additional heavy crude oil from Canada, a secure, reliable and sustainable source. The refinery currently runs about 30 percent heavy Canadian crude. The reconfigured refinery will run about 90 percent," Sajkowski said. BP is planning an investment of more than $3 billion to modernize the refinery so it continues to provide the reliable fuel supply people need well into the future, he said. Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind~Dr. Suess
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Jul 26 2007, 08:12 AM
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Really Comfortable Group: Moderator Posts: 2,315 Joined: 10-February 07 From: Michigan City Member No.: 43 |
QUOTE Dan Sajkowski, BP Whiting Refinery business unit leader, in a statement, said the discharged is fine particles that aren't filtered out in the plant's water treatment system. He disputed news reports saying the company discharged "sludge." "That is not true. The refinery does not and will not discharge sludge into the lake. The refinery discharges only treated water into the lake. Treated wastewater is more than 99.999 percent water. The remainder is salt, nutrients, organics and inorganics that are not dissolved in water ... All wastewater sludges are treated separately, according to state and federal requirements, and never discharged to Lake Michigan," Sajkowski said. Regarding ammonia, the new permit allows the refinery's average ammonia discharge to increase from 1,030 pounds per day to 1,584 pounds per day. However, Sajkowski said, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines could allow as much as 3,358 pounds per day, more than double the refinery's newly permitted ammonia discharge limit. "Also, it is important to remember that these permit numbers are maximum limits; on a daily average basis, actual discharges by the Whiting Refinery are substantially less." Hypocrisy at it's best... With one breath, he tells us they only discharge "treated wastewater"...in the next, voila!, it magically includes ammonia. |
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