[Southsider2k12]

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/wh...0a99e60859.html

Lauri Harvey Keagle lauri.keagle@nwi.com, (219) 852-4311

WHITING | State and federal environmental officials were at the scene of an oil spill into Lake Michigan Tuesday morning following a Monday afternoon discharge from BP's Whiting Refinery.

The incident was discovered at 4:30 p.m. Monday, BP Spokesman Scott Dean said.

"We did have a processing disruption last night at the Whiting Refinery," Dean said via phone from the scene Tuesday morning. "We immediately activated the response team."

Dean said the discharge took place in "a little cove between the water treatment plant and the steel mill."

"Some oil found its way into the cooling water system," Dean said.

The oily water was then discharged into the cove leading to the lake, he said.

"It wasn't long-lasting," he said.

Dean said there were no injuries.

Cleanup and containment efforts were underway Tuesday morning. Dean said "a couple of booms" were placed in the water.

"The winds are out of the north and have been pushing it toward the shore, which is helping our guys with the clean up," Dean said.

Dean said BP was not yet able to quantify the amount of oil discharged into the lake because of the disruption in the processing unit.

Dean said BP representatives quickly contacted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Dan Goldblatt, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, said crews at the scene around 2 a.m. Tuesday reported "a large sheen on the lake."

Dean said the sheen was no longer visible around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Goldblatt said IDEM officials were at the scene Tuesday morning along with U.S. EPA representatives.

Francisco Arcaute, spokesman for the U.S. EPA Region 5 office in Chicago, referred all calls related to the spill to BP.