CHICAGO, Illinois—BP’s
announcement today that it will avoid any increased pollution into Lake
Michigan affirms that BP has heard the voices of hundreds off thousands of
Great Lakes Region residents that Lake Michigan
is our gem and drinking water, not our dumping ground. We expect no less of a
company like BP, which has spent millions on a global advertising campaign
touting its environmental practices, and which certainly has the resources to
avoid this increase. Now BP must seek an amended discharge permit that codifies
its pledge.
If
BP makes good on its promise by avoiding the increased discharge of ammonia and
toxics-containing solids, increases allowed by its new discharge permit issued
in June by Indiana’s Department of
Environmental Management (IDEM), then Lake Michigan
is saved from the dangerous impacts of those pollutants.
However,
as long as BP’s discharge permit remains on the books in Indiana,
it still sets the dangerous precedent of being the first permit in years to
allow a company’s increase in pollution into Lake Michigan.
To ensure the Great Lakes' protection, the
permit must be amended—-both to hold BP to its pledge and to avoid setting a
standard by which IDEM issues future permits.
We
thank the hundreds of thousands of region residents who have spoken out to
demand a higher standard of care for our Great Lakes—and
we thank BP for listening. Now, we urge BP to apply for an amended discharge
permit that codifies its promise to avoid any increase in pollution.
###
Statement of Max Muller, Environmental Advocate at Environment Illinois
