Indiana Environmental chief should resign

Citizens in Whiting, Indiana are calling for Indiana Department of Environmental Management Commissioner Thomas Easterly to resign, claiming he has "failed to protect the public interest" regarding the increase of toxic pollution from the BP refinery directly into Lake Michigan.

The Hoosier Environmental Council will be asked to approve a resolution Saturday calling for Easterly's ouster. If it is approved, a "no-confidence" call will be presented at an Aug. 9 IDEM public hearing taking place at its regional office in Merrillville. The hearing is on a BP variance request to alter which portions of the plant can release smokestack particles.

Folks in Indiana are getting pissed. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. of Hammond, Indiana has stated his opposition to BP and says he's concerned that the BP Whiting Refinery is dumping near the intake pipe for city of Hammond drinking water. Hammond's Water Works supplies water to residents of Hammond and 10 other communities, including Munster and Lansing. The intake pipe is about a mile from where BP is proposing to increase its wastewater discharge.

Meanwhile, over here in West Michigan, a local radio station is broadcasting live today from a BP gas station in Cedar Springs, Michigan. This BP store is attempting to lure customers in by giving away its merchandise. Apparently the folks at BP are scared shitless, enough to start giving away the store in order to stay in business.

So, I'm going to write a letter to the Grand Rapids Press today asking local businesses to pull their advertising from this radio station until they apologize to the citizens of the Great Lakes for being such massive idiots. This is reprehensible and a blatant act of irresponsibility on the part of the radio station's management.

BP is a BAD corporate citizen. They've been lying for years, telling us how green they are. In fact, they've been poisoning Lake Michigan for decades. The time has come to tell them to shut down their refinery operation on the lakeshore.

See the related posts below regarding this issue.