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Monday, June 02, 2008

Environment - Gary Post-Tribune examines IDEM calls to BP

Gitte Laasby of the Gary Post-Tribune reports today under the headline: "IDEM, BP in cahoots on public hearing? Phone calls reveal clues." The story begins:

A public relations official at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management called a BP official seven times leading up to a public hearing that was heavily attended by proponents of the refinery modernization.

Sandra Flum, director of community relations, also made three calls to the Northwest Indiana Forum, a private business advocacy group.

The phones calls, obtained by the Post-Tribune through public records requests, suggest IDEM might have worked with BP and economic development groups to stack the public hearing in favor of BP's controversial expansion, environmentalists say.

"I don't know that it's inappropriate" to make that number of calls, said Tom Anderson, executive director of Save the Dunes Council, "but the appearance is, the agency is working with the polluter and the (Northwest Indiana) Forum to make it look like there was a lot more support than there is support for this project and the increased pollution."

Anderson said the unusually large attendance at a March 14 hearing in Hammond, when more than 1,000 people showed up mostly in support of the permit, seemed to be a deliberate attempt to orchestrate the hearing and indicate there was more support for the permit than was actually the case.

A sidebar to the story details the Post-Tribune's efforts to access cell phone records:
The Post-Tribune requested itemized cell phone bills for IDEM Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Air Quality Dan Murray for a month around the time of the hearing. Murray made a presentation about BP's air permit before the hearing, which critics said sounded more like a public relations speech for BP. * * *

The Post-Tribune has filed an official complaint with the Public Access Counselor to gain access to the records.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 2, 2008 09:03 AM
Posted to Environment