BP's Whiting Refinery: Commitment Amidst Protest | ** An Anonymous Journal **

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

BP's Whiting Refinery: Commitment Amidst Protest

In the past week, a certain newspaper ran an editorial on the Whiting refinery of BP (Beyond Petroleum) in Indiana, where government officials have allegedly allowed BP to dump significantly more toxins like ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes.

While BP may have the permission from Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do so, BP would like to clarify that only treated water will be released into Lake Michigan, separating water and sludge. The sludge will be disposed of separately and never released into Lake Michigan so fears of water pollution that is said to harm residents and the environment is unfounded.

To reduce dependency on crude oil from the Middle East, BP will be investing $3 billion to upgrade and modernize the refinery facilities of Whiting to handle the processing of heavy crude oil from Canada which is a more reliable source than the Middle East. Out of this $3 billion, $150 million goes into waste water treatment and management.

While residents and environmentalists may protest against BP's refinery activities in Whiting, BP has pledged to go about it well within legal means and with the refinery operating in full swing, BP is actually creating more jobs for the people now and in the future PLUS produce fuel for the daily needs of the people.

Although some people may think it is a trade off for fuel against environmental pollution, as long as BP adopts a collaborative, transparent approach as promised and continuously improve the technology in the refinery especially in waste water treatment, BP's presence in Whiting would actually benefit everybody in the long run.

0 comments:

Post a Comment