Sunday, July 15, 2007

BP Increases Toxic Sludge Dumping into Lake Michigan

BP will now be allowed to dump an average of 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of sludge mixed with 21 million gallons of contaminated wastewater into Lake Michigan EVERY DAY. An immediate boycott of BP is necessary.

There are thousands upon thousands of people who get drinking water directly from Lake Michigan. This is a message for you folks who are ingesting BP's bullshit.

From the Tribune:
The massive BP oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., is planning to dump significantly more ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan, running counter to years of efforts to clean up the Great Lakes.

Indiana regulators exempted BP from state environmental laws to clear the way for a $3.8 billion expansion that will allow the company to refine heavier Canadian crude oil. They justified the move in part by noting the project will create 80 new jobs.

Under BP's new state water permit, the refinery—already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes—can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals...

BP, which aggressively markets itself as an environmentally friendly corporation, is investing heavily in Canadian crude oil to reduce its reliance on sources in the Middle East. Extracting petroleum from the thick goop is a dirtier process than conventional methods. It also requires more energy that could significantly increase greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

Environmental groups and dozens of neighbors pleaded with BP to install more effective pollution controls at the nation's fourth-largest refinery, which rises above the lakeshore about 3 miles southeast of the Illinois-Indiana border...

State and federal regulators, though, agreed last month with the London-based company that there isn't enough room at the 1,400-acre site to upgrade the refinery's water treatment plant.


This is the purest example of corporate green washing. We've been hearing from BP for years now about how green they are becoming and how sustainable their operations are. Well, it's an outright lie. BP is poisoning Lake Michigan, the water you swim in and drink. This is not some remote oil spill in Alaska, this is right in our backyard.

I'M CALLING FOR AN IMMEDIATE BOYCOTT OF BP THROUGHOUT THE GREAT LAKES. LET'S SHUT THESE BASTARDS DOWN, PERMANENTLY. DO NOT PURCHASE ANY BP GAS UNTIL THIS NEW ATROCITY HAS STOPPED OR THE BP FACILITY IN INDIANA IS SHUT DOWN. IF THEY THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH THIS, THEY ARE DEAD WRONG.

Do the math:
1584 pounds of ammonia per day multiplied by 365 days equals 578,160 pounds per year, and 5,781,600lbs in the next decade.

4925 pounds of toxic sludge multiplied by 365 days equals 1,797,625 pounds per year, or 17,976,250 pounds over the next 10 years.

The Grand Total? 23,757,850 pounds of BP bullshit.

At 21 million gallons of contamintated water per day, they will pollute 76,650,000,000 gallons of fresh water in the next ten years.

Read the Chicago Tribune article for yourself, get motivated and get involved: Chicago Tribune
Published July 15, 2007

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's where you can give BP a piece of your mind: http://www.bp.com/multipleimagesection.do?categoryId=9009861&contentId=7018696
I used the "Tell us what you think" category.

Jerome Alicki said...

Thanks for the link Mike. I used it to let BP know that I'm refusing to use their products.

Anonymous said...

Our water is more precious than their oil. This permit cannot stand. BP must build a treatment plant that can handle their new process. There must be no net increase in pollutants to the Lake. In fact, they need to reduce their existing discharges, as they are already too high.

BP is literally pissing (ammonia) and sh*tting (sludge) in our water supply, and were just supposed to take it lying down?

Jerome Alicki said...

Absolutely not. We will not take this lying down. Fight back! Write BP and tell BP what you think of them, boycott all BP gas stations and then spread the word. Blog the Boycott!

Anonymous said...

How about a boycott of Indiana? No driving on toll roads. No buying anything in Indiana period.

Feel inspired to fire off a letter to the Governor? Here's a link:
http://www.in.gov/gov/2310.htm

There is also the Great Lakes National Program Office of the EPA:

http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/feedpp.html

Unknown said...

I don't want to hurt folks throughout Indiana. I the boycott of an entire state would be incredibly difficult to do, logistically. Shutting down the entire town of Whiting on the other hand, that will be EASY. I'll generate a list of businesses in Whiting and I'll post it on BBS. We can pressure BP by getting the mayor and town council against them.

Michael Nolan said...

I think flooding Governor “my man Mitch” Daniels’ office with irate phone calls is a great tactic. The message I left was, “Indiana should stop acting like Lake Michigan is its toilet.”

His number is 317 232-4567

Anonymous said...

Call your Governor and your own reps (I just did). They are more responsive to their own constituents.

Feel free to add on the invasive species-zebra mussels and Asian carp are a growing problem, and that stupid contract MI and others got into with Nestle allowing them to bottle our water. Others will come.
It's our livelihood!
Contact your state reps and governor, and pass it on!
thanks,
Jan
Michigan
gov. Granholm is 517-373-3400

btw-boycotting BP will not hurt the CO-it will hurt the little neighborhood stations.
One could call or amail them BP!

Anonymous said...

I retired from BP in Whiting shortly after they bought out AMOCO.
I'm originally from NW IND & fished Lake Michigan a lot. Why am I not surprised that the Brits are doing this? They couldn't beat us before so they are trying it a different way.

I now live in NW Washington. I have been purchasing my gas from the local AM/PM Arco station which is now owned by BP. As long as they polute Lake Michigan, I will no longer purchase anything from their stations here.

I hope others see this and follow suit on this issue.

Anonymous said...

Its kind of off the subject a little but...
We might as well note, while we're going after them, that British Petroleum is also partly responsible for the great political mess in the Middle East, to which our own government is now making its own distinguished contribution.

Once called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the strategic importance of this enterprise led the British and American intelligence services to bring down the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953, and install a pro-western dictator. The repercussions of this coup have been devastating in Iran and the region altogether.

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