Not so Great for Lake Michigan...

The BP Whiting Refinery has received permission from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to operate exempt from environmental laws capping the allowable volume of toxins to be discharged into Lake Michigan. Refinery officials maintain that it needs the exemption to proceed with a planned $3.8 billion expansion focused on processing heavy crude oil from Canada. Daily discharges, expected to include 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge than today, technically remain within federal and state pollution water standards.

BP spokesman Scott Dean says that the refinery will build a new diffuser apparatus designed to reduce concentration of pollutants in the water by mixing them with clean water 200 feet from the shore. "We use the best waste water treatment technology…that’s in full compliance," he says. According to the company, the refinery doesn't have adequate real estate to build a larger waste water treatment plant.

But Lee Botts, a Gary, Indiana, environmentalist and founder of the Great Lakes Alliance, says BP must better address the issues. "The waste water treatment plant is built on lake fill," she says. "We find it hard to think they couldn't find more room, given the size of the facility. We're not objecting to them being able to operate; we just think they should do the maximum possible to protect the environment."

Environmentalists maintain the permit violates Clean Water Act standards, which prohibit water quality from being adversely affected by a source of pollution, even if said pollution doesn't violate federal and state standards. BP’s current permit is effective for three years once the expansion becomes operational in 2011. An air permit still is required before work can proceed.

Source: NWITimes.com