Energy giant BP has the green light to ramp up gasoline production at its lake-side oil refinery in Indiana.
Chicago Public Radio’s Shawn Allee reports.
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Lake Michigan has a kind of environmental success story to tell.
Steel and chemical plants along the lake generally dump fewer chemicals than in years past.
But Indiana will allow BP’s Whiting facility to emit more ammonia, metals and other pollutants than it does now.
That galls the Save the Dunes Council, an Indiana environmental group.
President Susan Mihalo.
MIHALO: It shows that the state thinks it’s an island unto itself. And they need to look at this from a global perspective and not think those waters belong to the state of Indiana.
Indiana’s department of environmental management claims the state didn’t allow BP to pollute as much as it initially wanted.
Environmental officials say one reason for the more lenient permit was that BP’s expansion would create jobs in Northwest Indiana.
I’m Shawn Allee, Chicago Public Radio.