Friday, July 20, 2007

Lake Michigan and BP

This morning, both the Sun-Times and the Tribune print editorials against BP’s new plan to dump additional waste into Lake Michigan, via its Whiting, Indiana, refinery. I guess BP rules the world. . . .

Earlier this week I expressed my disappointment with the Illinois EPA. Now I can express the same for the Indiana EPA. I’m going to the lakefront to sign the petition.

I drive through Indiana every time I visit my family in Michigan, and I usually fill up my tank there because gas is cheaper. I’m not going to do that anymore. The Michigan economy is really in trouble, so I’ll spend more there, instead. I want to see Indiana make a big effort creating jobs/industries that clean up the environment.

6 comments:

Kathy said...

A hearing on the subject will take place at 1 p.m. on Aug. 9 at IDEM's regional office at 315 Virginia St., Merrillville.

Johnny Yen said...

When I was at Peterson Park the other day for Adam's baseball practice, there was a group of young folks setting up a table with petitions about the BP refinery. I think this is one that is not gonna fly for BP.

Anonymous said...

I went to the website MWRD.org Chicago Reclamation District and the president swhat BP is putting into the lake sludge. This is kind of strange when he runs the same type of facility as BP's. Also if BP is dumping so is every other water treatment facility.

Also look how the Chicago Reclamation district describes sludge... "Many area golf courses, sod farms, tollway banks and parks are green and fertile because of the rich mixture of sludge and soil. In Fulton County, Illinois, the District is reclaiming 15,000 acres of land which were left barren and ugly from years of strip mining for coal. By leveling the land and enriching the soil with nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients in the sludge, wasteland has been converted to fertile ground for agricultural uses. This program is called the Prairie Plan." http://www.mwrd.org/Processes/solid.htm

Kind of amazing...makes you wonder who is telling truths and who is just slinging sludge.

I signed the petition and now I feel pretty much used.

Steve R. Chicago North Sider

Kathy said...

Steve R. -

Yes, when you start reading on this topic you will start feeling . . . I don't know. Icky? But I think you can feel good about signing the petition. It shows that you don't want BP dumping more waste into our water supply. It shows that you want clean water for people. It shows that you care about where you live. And that's very cool.

BP has vast resources, of every kind - I don't believe they have to do business this way. They just do it 'cuz they can. And IMHO, that's very, very uncool.

Anonymous said...

Kathy
I regret having signed the petitions. BP is not dumping waste into the lake. And they followed the rules and regulations, also known as a process, that I personally fought to defend in a war not so long ago. If you do some investigation you will see that all the municipalities on the great lakes dump into the lake as you describe it. Chicago happens to dump into the Chicago River which dumps into the Mississippi. Oh yeah I learned everyone that fertilizes their lawns ... ammonia. Great grass. Lastly I learnd everytime a city expands including builds these huge condo complexes like the ones downtown they have to get an increase in their limits of ammonia and TSS... so all the expansion in Chicago... pollution... some will say hey that is necessary to create places for people to live. And what does BP make?? Cookies? It is called energy. I made a mistake and listened to an uninformed politician named Durbin. Shame on me. Next time I will pause before I join my friends who are chanting Save Our Lake while at the same time they go fertilize their lawn and flush their toilets.

Kathy said...

Yes, it's true. I flush the toilet. I suppose I've lost all credibility now. . . .

But, Steve R., do you honestly think persons agitating against BP aren't also fighting mad about Chicago news of closed beaches and recent storm managment policies that dump partially treated sewage into Lake Michigan?

If, as you suggest, we are all part of the problem, how can BP not be part of it, too?

And how can they not be part of the solution?