Illinois puts pressure on BP

[News]

Officials hope to shame energy giant BP into backing out of an Indiana exemption plan allowing them to dump more ammonia and sludge into Lake Michigan.

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[GLF]

By Jo Napolitano | Tribune staff reporter

July 22, 2007

State and local officials hope to shame energy giant BP -- a company that has spent millions in advertising to depict itself as an environmental leader -- into backing out of a plan to dump more ammonia and sludge into Lake Michigan.

Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Rahm Emanuel went right to the source Saturday, asking people along the lakefront to sign a petition objecting to the proposal.

Indiana exempted BP from state environmental laws to clear the way for a $3.8 billion expansion of its oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., the Tribune reported last week. The refinery -- already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes -- will be permitted to release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day, although BP said it will still meet federal guidelines for pollution. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals.

Durbin, who once praised BP for its forward thinking, said he was surprised by the company's plan.

"I was one of the people to say, 'This is a different kind of oil company,'" Durbin said at a news conference at Foster Beach, part of the weekend petition drive. "I don't understand what they're thinking. They've gone beyond reason. They can't be the greenest oil company in America and dump into Lake Michigan."

Durbin and Emanuel sent a letter to BP's president on Friday, asking him to meet with them in Washington to discuss the proposal.

They're also asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clarify its role in approving the permit issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to allow BP to increase its dumping into the lake.

Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, said his company followed all of the proper rules and guidelines and shouldn't be held to a different standard.

"This company is investing more than $8 billion in alternative energy, looking at everything from solar to wind to hydrogen," he said. "But we're also in the business of providing consumers with heat, light and mobility. This project is designed to provide more gasoline to Chicago and the Midwest market."

Jack Darin, director of the Sierra Club's Illinois chapter, said the main threat is to the water, but the entire incident underscores America's dependence on oil.

"We are doing all we can do to make this place cleaner, but we can't do it alone," Darin said. "People remember when the lake wasn't so clean and they don't want to go back to that."

The hope of the petition drive along the lakefront is to gather the signatures to send to Indiana's governor, asking him to reconsider the decision to allow BP to move ahead on its plans.