BY PATRICK GUINANE, Times of Northwest Indiana
pguinane@nwitimes.com
INDIANAPOLIS | Seeking to ebb a persistent tide of public criticism, Gov. Mitch Daniels asked a Reagan-era Environmental Protection Agency administrator Monday to review a wastewater discharge permit the state granted the Whiting BP Refinery.
Daniels stood behind his administration's decision allowing BP to release more ammonia and suspended solids into Lake Michigan as the company moves ahead with a $3.8 billion plant expansion. But the governor said widespread criticism of the increased discharges, which still fall within federal limits, convinced him "it is necessary to have a credible, independent evaluation of the permitting decision and outcome."
"Indiana's standards are tougher than the federal rules, and, as far as we know, fully protective of the lake's water quality. On my order, we rechecked the science on this point and reconfirmed our staff findings with the EPA," Daniels said in a written statement. "But as some have continued to question that judgment, I am seeking yet another opinion."
Indiana University professor James Barnes, who served as general counsel to the EPA for two decades and was a deputy administrator and chief operating officer for the agency under President Reagan, has been asked to conduct the review. Barnes, dean of IU's School of Environmental and Public Affairs from 1988 to 2000, was traveling Monday and unavailable for comment.
Despite mounting complaints from lawmakers in neighboring states and a formal rebuke approved by the U.S. House, Daniels called the relaxed BP permit a done deal last month. BP spokesman Tom Keilman said the governor's request for an independent review is a chance to validate the permitting process, not a signal of wavering state support.
"Throughout this process, the governor, IDEM and EPA have stuck by the validity of the permit," Keilman said. "BP believes that we followed all required state and federal regulations and procedures in order to secure the permit."
Environmental groups contend the Daniels administration should have forced BP to install stricter pollution controls at the Whiting facility. The new state discharge permit, approved in late June, allows the refinery to increase daily ammonia output 54 percent and release 35 percent more suspended solids -- silty materials left over after wastewater is treated and filtered.
Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and Purdue University Calumet's Water Institute last week agreed to study whether new technology could allow BP to reduce the water pollution spikes tied to the plant expansion. And the EPA is brokering a Wednesday meeting in Chicago between company officials, environmental groups and state regulators.
Daniels' call for an independent review of Indiana's environmental standards -- for BP and beyond -- was met with mixed emotions by Thomas Anderson, executive director of the Save the Dunes Council.
"We're certainly welcoming any effort to move our water quality protection forward," he said. "In some ways it might be later than we would like, but if we get to the same endpoint, let's get to that endpoint."