« Courts - Judge Sotomayor's 173-page questionaire now available | Main | Law - Some useful information on obtaining loan modifications »
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Environment - More on: "EPA cites BP's Whiting refinery for Clean Air Act violations"
Updating this ILB entry from Tuesday, Gitte Laasby of the Gary Post-Tribune reports this afternoon:
MERRILLVILLE - Nineteen members of Congress from Great Lakes states are calling for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to investigate whether BP is complying with its air, water and land pollution permits.See also Laasby's report from June 3rd for more details on the discovery of the violation.The legislators asked the EPA Thursday to take "a systemic look" at BP discharges and emissions. The move comes after EPA announced Tuesday that BP's Whiting refinery emitted cancer-causing benzene at its wastewater treatment plant without proper air pollution control equipment for nearly six years.
BP self-reported the 2003-2008 violations in an annual report it is required to submit to the EPA. * * *
No members of Congress from Indiana signed on to the letter.
Both Democrats and Republicans signed it; 11 from Illinois, five from Michigan, two from Wisconsin and one from New York. Many of them also spoke up in 2007 after the Indiana Department of Environmental Management permitted BP to increase its discharges of ammonia and silty materials containing traces of heavy metals into Lake Michigan. * * *
BP discovered the problem when a third party audited the treatment plant in 2008 as part of an effort to improve operations.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 4, 2009 04:23 PM
Posted to Environment