BP today (click here) more
than doubled its maximum estimate of how much crude oil spilled into
Lake Michigan earlier this week from its Whiting refinery in Northwest
Indiana.
In a statement, the company said a malfunction in a new
distillation unit forced up to 39 barrels or 1,638 gallons of oil into
the lake just across the Illinois border. A day earlier, the company had
estimated that 18 barrels at most had been spilled.
BP said it based its latest estimate on the amount of
oil collected by vacuum trucks and absorbent booms, along with an
inventory of the waxy balls of oil that cleanup crews scoured from a
beach on BP’s property. Strong winds appear to have pushed most of the
oil toward a shallow cove between the refinery and an ArcelorMittal
steel mill....
The BP Whiting Refinery in Whiting, In. (Photo courtesy of the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana)
The nation's largest in-land refinery that has Canadian crude piped in from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada.
Some of the most toxic sludge in the world is now running into Lake Michigan.
CHICAGO (October 19, 2009) (click here) - The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued an objection to the operating permit for BP North America’s refinery in Whiting, IN that will require the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to rewrite the permit. The decision is a victory for the citizens and environmental groups who petitioned EPA to object to the permit in August 2008 on the grounds that it did not accurately account for the large increases in dangerous air pollution that would be caused by BP’s expansion of the refinery. The petition was submitted by Environmental Law & Policy Center, Hoosier Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Save the Dunes Council, Sierra Club, Susan Eleuterio and Tom Tsourlis....
May 24, 2012
By Michael Hawthorne
Chicago Tribune reporter
In a move that promises cleaner air (click here) throughout the Chicago area, BP on Wednesday agreed to spend more than $400 million to settle legal complaints about chronic pollution problems at the oil company's sprawling refinery in northwest Indiana.
The nation's largest in-land refinery that has Canadian crude piped in from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada.
Some of the most toxic sludge in the world is now running into Lake Michigan.
CHICAGO (October 19, 2009) (click here) - The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued an objection to the operating permit for BP North America’s refinery in Whiting, IN that will require the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to rewrite the permit. The decision is a victory for the citizens and environmental groups who petitioned EPA to object to the permit in August 2008 on the grounds that it did not accurately account for the large increases in dangerous air pollution that would be caused by BP’s expansion of the refinery. The petition was submitted by Environmental Law & Policy Center, Hoosier Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Save the Dunes Council, Sierra Club, Susan Eleuterio and Tom Tsourlis....
May 24, 2012
By Michael Hawthorne
Chicago Tribune reporter
In a move that promises cleaner air (click here) throughout the Chicago area, BP on Wednesday agreed to spend more than $400 million to settle legal complaints about chronic pollution problems at the oil company's sprawling refinery in northwest Indiana.
BP’s Whiting refinery is nearing completion of a
$3.8 billion expansion that will make it a top processor of heavy crude
oil extracted from Canada’s tar sand deposits.
Environmental groups have raised concerns that the
project, set for completion later this year, will result in worsened
pollution in the area and warn that tar sands oil contains elevated
levels of impurities....
Here are the responsible parties:
Indiana environmental officials approved a permit allowing BP to discharge higher amounts of pollution into the lake, pressure from the public and Chicago area politicians, forced BP to back away from the higher amounts.
It is another North Carolina: "Dump Here."
IDEM Office of Water Quality: Permits on Notice (click here)
Voted YES on scheduling permitting for new oil refinieries (click here)
Voting YES would allow floor debate on H.R.5254, the Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act, which provides for the following:
The EPA, upon the request of a state governor, shall provide scheduling and financial assistance relevant to consideration of federal refinery authorizations.
The President shall designate at least three closed military installations as potentially suitable for the construction of a refinery.
BP is really racking up the environmental failures, aren't they? Another "Too Big to Fail." Texas refinery, Gulf spill and now this. Pence received a quarter million from the energy sector for his Governor's race. However, his largest donors were individuals with deep pockets, not the Middle Class.
Every time there is a BP crisis, it upticks it's rhetoric promising to INVEST more. It's primary strategy IS "Too Big Too Fail." When the Texas explosion occurred BP promised to spend billions to improve the refinery. BP buys it's place in the world and then disregards the rules.
Indiana environmental officials approved a permit allowing BP to discharge higher amounts of pollution into the lake, pressure from the public and Chicago area politicians, forced BP to back away from the higher amounts.
It is another North Carolina: "Dump Here."
IDEM Office of Water Quality: Permits on Notice (click here)
Voted YES on scheduling permitting for new oil refinieries (click here)
Voting YES would allow floor debate on H.R.5254, the Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act, which provides for the following:The EPA, upon the request of a state governor, shall provide scheduling and financial assistance relevant to consideration of federal refinery authorizations.
The President shall designate at least three closed military installations as potentially suitable for the construction of a refinery.
BP is really racking up the environmental failures, aren't they? Another "Too Big to Fail." Texas refinery, Gulf spill and now this. Pence received a quarter million from the energy sector for his Governor's race. However, his largest donors were individuals with deep pockets, not the Middle Class.
Every time there is a BP crisis, it upticks it's rhetoric promising to INVEST more. It's primary strategy IS "Too Big Too Fail." When the Texas explosion occurred BP promised to spend billions to improve the refinery. BP buys it's place in the world and then disregards the rules.
