Environmental Group Sues to Block Oil Refinery Expansion
Thursday, July 10, 2008
By Susan Jones, Senior Editor
Environmental Group Sues to Block Oil Refinery Expansion
(CNSNews.com) - An environmental group on Wednesday filed a lawsuit intended to stop the expansion of a BP oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana. A shortage of oil refining capacity is often mentioned as one reason for soaring gasoline prices.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is challenging air permits granted to the refinery by the State of Indiana. It’s part of the “ongoing fight against excessive pollution in northwest Indiana and Chicago,” the NRDC said in a news release.
The permits granted to BP by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management “simply do not protect the public and do not live up to the law,” said NRDC attorney Ann Alexander. “The failure of Indiana and BP to take the public interest and the law seriously has forced the issue and required that this case be brought before the federal courts.”
The lawsuit argues that BP and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management have not properly accounted for increases in pollution that will result from the refinery expansion.
NRDC said the increased pollution requires the BP refinery to implement more effective pollution controls -- by operating under a more stringent “major source” permit.
Just this week, G8 leaders meeting in Japan called for an increase in oil production and refining capacity to help curb soaring gasoline prices.
According to NRDC, the expansion of the BP refinery in Whiting will add three new flares (torch-like structures used to burn gases and release pressure), but BP’s pollution analysis assumed that these new flares would never even be used.
“Flares are enormous sources of pollution. It’s not an option for BP and IDEM to stick their heads in the sand and pretend that the problem does not exist -- the problem endangers the public and the law requires it be addressed,” Alexander said.
NRDC notes that it recently raised similar objections in a challenge that sent ConocoPhillips’ air permits for the Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Ill., back to the drawing board.
BP says its air permit application meets or exceeds state and federal pollution regulations. It will result in an overall reduction in air emissions “at the same time that we are processing a heavier grade of oil and producing more motor fuel," said Whiting Refinery Manager Dan Sajkowski.
"Our goal is to protect the environment and bring another 620 million gallons of gasoline to the US Midwest every year that's processed from a secure source of North American oil," he said in a November 2007 news release.
BP says its Whiting refinery modernization project is a “significant investment” that will allow the facility to process much more Canadian heavy crude -- and increase motor fuel production. The investment has the potential to increase gasoline and diesel output by about 1.7 million gallons a day (620 million gallons a year), BP said on its Web site.
In addition, the project will create an estimated 2,000 construction jobs and 80 permanent jobs.
NRDC is challenging BP’s construction permits in the Hammond Division of the Northern District of Indiana federal court.
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