Environmental Law and Policy Center » Cleaning Up Oil Refineries

BP’s Gulf Spill Heightens Concerns Over Whiting Refinery

pgray — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 20:33:28 +0000

ELPC worked with a coalition of environmental and citizen groups to successfully challenge the air permit for an expansion of BP’s Whiting, Indiana oil refinery that would enable the facility to process more oil from Canadian tar sands, and create huge amounts of new global warming pollution in the process. An article in Greenwire and The New York Times looks at how BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico might affect the planned refinery expansion.

“Putting economics above public safety and the environment appears to be a pervasive practice” at BP, said ELPC senior attorney Faith Bugel. “If there’s a loophole, the practice appears to be to find their way through it. Our concern is that what happened in the Gulf doesn’t happen here.”

Read the full article in the New York Times

Air Pollution, Oil Refineries and Tar Sands

pgray — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:00:20 +0000

ELPC made headlines in October when the US EPA blocked the air permit for the expansion of BP’s Whiting, Indiana refinery. The refinery expansion would allow BP to process Canadian tar sands crude oil in Indiana and would also create huge amounts of new air pollution.

In this guest column in Great Lakes Law, ELPC Staff Attorney Meleah Geertsma explains what the refinery expansion would mean and why ELPC and the EPA believe a better air permit it needed.

Read the post at Great Lakes Law.

EPA Blocks Air Permit for BP Refinery Expansion, Sides with ELPC and Coalition

pgray — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:50:29 +0000

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued an objection to the operating permit for BP North America’s refinery in Whiting, IN that will require the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to rewrite the permit.

The decision is a victory for ELPC and the other citizens and environmental groups who petitioned EPA to object to the permit in August 2008 on the grounds that it did not accurately account for the large increases in dangerous air pollution that would be caused by BP’s expansion of the refinery. ELPC filed the petition with a coalition that included Hoosier Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Save the Dunes Council, Sierra Club, Susan Eleuterio and Tom Tsourlis.

BP began a major expansion of the Whiting Refinery in 2008 in order to process dirty Canadian tar sands crude oil at the facility. The expansion would make the refinery the largest refiner of tar sands oil in the U.S. and would increase numerous traditional air pollutants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. In addition, the expansion would create approximately as much new global warming pollution as a new 300-400 megawatt coal plant, about a forty percent increase from current refinery levels.

“BP needs to come clean about what this expansion really will mean for clean air and public health.” said ELPC Staff Attorney Meleah Geertsma.

Read the Press Release Here

ELPC Attorneys Concerned about Loopholes in Indiana’s Proposed Pollution Rules

pgray — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:19:37 +0000

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) held a public meeting this week to discuss proposed water pollution rules for Lake Michigan. ELPC and the members of the public are worried that poorly crafted regulations could lead to a controversy similar to 2007, when BP was permitted to dump mercury into Lake Michigan.

ELPC is concerned, in particular, that the proposed rules don’t address nitrogen and phosphorus – pollutants that have created a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and could have similar effects on Indiana waters. As ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger told the Post Tribune, “I don’t think these rules are acceptable because they’re going to exempt very important pollutants that will have a demonstrable effect on waters in Indiana.”

Read the full article in the Post Tribune

Two Years after BP Controversy, ELPC Attorneys Say Indiana Still Needs to Improve Clean Water Rules

pgray — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:10:04 +0000

Two years ago, BP made headlines with its plans to expand its oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana and dump additional pollution into Lake Michigan. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management had issued a permit allowing the added pollution. When the public – and ELPC and our environmental colleagues – expressed outrage over the news, BP eventually announced that it would proceed with its plans without adding more pollution into the Lake. Since that time, Indiana’s water quality rules, which had allowed the increase in pollution, have still not been improved.

The state’s current anti-degradation rules could allow BP or another company to increase the amount of ammonia and silty materials it dumps into the lake without examining cleaner alternatives. ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger and Staff Attorney Brad Klein told the Indiana press about their concerns that another pollution controversy could emerge if the state doesn’t improve its clean water rules.

Read the full story in the Post-Tribune.

ELPC’s Ettinger in Gary Post Tribune: Clean water rule must have careful consideration of alternatives

jgeiger — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:17:57 +0000

According to ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger, “consideration of alternatives” must be key to new anti-degradation rules being reviewed in Indiana. Industries, environmentalists, municipalities and government officials are working together to clarify existing water rules in Indianapolis.

read the full article here

Oil Refinery Expansions Will Heavily Pollute Great Lakes

jgeiger — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:10:34 +0000

ELPC’s Howard Learner has been outspoken on the huge global warming pollution impacts of the eight planned oil refinery expansions in the Great Lakes region. He shared his views with a conference in Toronto entitled, “How the Oil Sands Got to the Great Lakes Basin: Pipelines, Refineries and Emissions to Air and Water.” The University of Toronto’s Munk Centre sponsored the event and issued an accompanying report that spells out the pollution linked to the refinery expansions that are needed to process tar sands crude, along with the new pipeline networks needed to transport the oil. The report says this creates a “pollution delivery system” connecting Alberta to the Great Lakes region of Canada and the U.S. Read the Toronto Globe and Mail article.

Argus Leader Says Energy Stakes Attract Green Groups to South Dakota

jgeiger — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:30:03 +0000

Argus Leader reporter Thom Gabrukiewicz pointed to rising energy concerns around, “biofuels, wind, coal, solar technology and the prospect of the first new oil refinery to be built in the United States in more than 30 years” as attracting national and regional groups like ELPC to work in the state.

“South Dakota has a tremendous opportunity to create clean energy on its farms and ranches that is good for the environment,” said Howard Learner, president and executive director with the Environmental Law & Policy Center, which has an office in Sioux Falls. “We’re here to help make a difference in South Dakota.”

Learner said the attention his group is placing on South Dakota is not fleeting. “We’re not dropping in for a year, then dropping out,” he said. “We’re here for the long term.”

Read the full article.

New Farm Bill Promotes Clean Energy Programs

elpc — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:27:33 +0000

Congress overrode the President’s veto of the Farm Bill, including a significant clean energy development component. The legislation has improved and new programs for wind power, advanced biofuels, energy efficiency, solar power and new energy crops for cleaner energy from America’s farmers, ranchers and rural businesses. “These programs are good for all Americans – they are a win-win-win for our energy security, environment, and economy,” said Howard Learner, ELPC’s Executive Director.

Fighting Global Warming Pollution from Refineries

elpc — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:12:43 +0000

Six oil refinery expansions have recently been proposed across the Midwest over due in large part to the newly commercially viable tar sands in Alberta, Canada. Canadian crude comes from Alberta tar sands. The tar sands are processed at the site where they are extracted; they are washed and filtered to remove the crude from the sand and then the resulting extra heavy crude is transported to refineries where it is refined. Once refined, it results in diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, and other products.

ELPC’s Current Initiatives

The potential increase in global warming from oil refinery expansion is enormous. ELPC’s efforts on this initiative include:

Representation by ELPC attorneys of Indiana environmental groups who are challenging the air pollution permits on the BP refinery in Northwest Indiana, which are in violation of the Clean Air Act. To protect public health, ELPC is arguing that state-of-the-art pollution controls and advanced environmental technologies must be installed at the outset to achieve no net increase in air pollution and full carbon dioxide mitigation.
Monitoring of the proposed new oil refinery in Hyperion, SD, which would add 19 million tons of pollution to the state—the equivalent of 4-6 new coal-fired power plants.

Recent Highlights

In response to a petition from ELPC and other environmental groups, US EPA issued an objection to the operating permit for BP North America’s refinery in Whiting, IN in October 2009. The permit will need to be revised to accurately account for the large increases in dangerous air pollution caused by BP’s expansion of the refinery.
In 2007, ELPC helped achieve a very significant and highly visible victory by successfully challenging BP’s proposal to increase its water pollution into Lake Michigan as a result of its oil refinery expansion.