BP water treatment employee Joe Morrison answers questions Wednesday during a media event at BP's lakefront waste water treatment plant control room. The refinery called in the media in an attempt to rebut criticisms of permit changes that allow it to discharge more ammonia and suspended solids into Lake Michigan. Natalie Battaglia | THE TIMES
WHITING | BP Whiting Refinery officials weren't doing "damage control" Wednesday when they invited television crews and newspaper reporters into the refinery to discuss oil, ammonia and the meaning of the word "sludge," said Spokesman Ron Rybarczyk.
BP officials wanted an "accuracy adjustment" on press reports of the loosening of permits governing the refinery's release of ammonia and other wastes into Lake Michigan, Rybarczyk said.
Chicago and Indiana newspapers, including The Times, have been reporting on the permit changes. BP officials specifically cited a Sunday Chicago Tribune article as inflaming controversy over a project that would boost the plant's capacity, but also pump more pollutants into Lake Michigan.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have agreed to relax a pollutant discharge permit, allowing the refinery to release more ammonia and tiny solid substances into the lake.
The refinery needed the permit loosened for a $3.8 billion "mega-project" planned to wrap in 2011, said Refinery Manager Dan Sajkowski. The project will outfit the refinery to process Canadian crude oil, Sajkowski said. The project is vital to the plant's future, Sajkowski said.
Some lawmakers are displeased with the adjusted permit.
Sajkowski hosted a phalanx of reporters and cameramen in refinery-supplied blue overalls Wednesday. Sajkowski objected to media reports that the refinery floats sludge into Lake Michigan, pointing to jars of clear refinery-processed water.
The plant is now permitted to release 1,036 pounds of ammonia per day into the lake. The adjusted permit allows 1,584 pounds. The permit also governs "total suspended solids," water containing tiny particles. The plant is now permitted to release about 3,600 pounds per day of total suspended solids. The adjusted permit will allow 4,925 pounds.
The refinery usually stays well below the permitted pollutant levels, Sajkowski said.
Also, the refinery will build a diffuser device to mix pollutants into the water.
Environmentalists say the refinery should expand its existing water treatment operation to strain out more pollutants, rather than calling for looser standards and building the diffuser.
The permit adjustment contradicts a recent history of environmental improvements, said local environmental activist Lee Botts. The plant is investing a huge sum in the project, she said.
"Why not do it right?" she asked.
Investing in the current treatment facility might not "guarantee any return" on pollutants, Sajkowski said. "We don't feel we can go any lower."
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