Curious Creature

I had wanted to follow up on this a lot earlier than today but all things being what they are I didn’t so I am right now

According to several sources BP has stated that it will find a way to not increase the amount of pollution it is dumping into Lake Michigan while still moving forward on it’s plan to expand the refinery.

The interesting quote to me is this:

BP officials have stood behind the expanded permit, saying it meets state and federal guidelines and complies with the Clean Water Act, but outrage from citizens and lawmakers from several states have created an “unacceptable business risk” for the company, BP said in the Northwest Indiana and Illinois Times report.

Reports like this are why businesses totally confound me sometimes even when I know the #1 reason they’re in business is to make money. BP sells itself as an environmentally sound company yet they propose to dump more pollution into Lake Michigan and then act surprised when people start to complain? Whether or not they would still be in compliance with the EPA is irrelevant really. What does matter is that we should not increase the amount of pollution in our waterways for any reason, especially when the waterway in question is such an important part of the natural resources of the region.

When are companies like BP going to realize that they would have had themselves quite a bit of good publicity had they decided from the beginning to increase the size of the refinery while keeping pollution levels the same, or better yet lower the pollution levels? As it stands they’ve created a lot of bad blood out there because lawful or not the reality is that people are sick and tired of corporate polluters fouling their water.

This is not rocket science folks. If you’re going to tout yourself as good for the environment prove it.

Good news. The plan to dump more chemicals into Lake Michigan via the BP refinery in Whiting, IN has been put on hold pending more investigation. More here.

Best quote:

BP officials told Illinois lawmakers after a Tuesday meeting at the Capitol that they would meet with them again in September after reviewing their expansion plan further for possible ways for dealing with environmental concerns.

That is exactly what should be happening. Look further into it to see how it can be made cleaner. I don’t give a damn if it falls within the EPA guidelines.

My drinking water, and the drinking water of the majority of the people in the Chicago metro area, comes from Lake Michigan and this report leaves me absolutely furious.

Thankfully folks from both sides of the legislative aisles are against this and already doing something about it.