BY STEVE ZABROSKI, Times of Northwest Indiana Correspondent
HAMMOND | Officials from both the city and BP want to wait another month before seeking action on the oil refiner's request to build a new north side asphalt facility.
The Board of Zoning Appeals on Wednesday night agreed to continue discussion of the $110 million asphalt distribution center -- considered the first step in a planned $3.8 billion expansion of the refinery's lakefront operation -- until its next meeting on Sept. 26.
BP is still reassigning responsibility for the plant, said Nicholas Chulos, an attorney for BP with the law firm Krieg DeVault. The reassignment comes after the death of Paul Percy, BP's global capabilities and technology manager for asphalt operations, less than a week after his testimony before the zoning board in July.
And the city is still waiting for information it requested from BP on Aug. 1 regarding the company's compliance with public safety ordinances, and data it supplied to federal and state environmental regulators regarding air and water emissions of hazardous materials from the proposed new facility, said board attorney Alan Faulkner.
BP is seeking conditional-use permission to build the new plant on 65 acres the company owns at 1304 129th St., just west of Indianapolis Boulevard, to make room for equipment to process heavy crude oil from Canada at its nearby Whiting Refinery.
"I think we're very close to getting the information together," Chulos said. "We should know within the next two weeks if we'll be ready."
Zoning Administrator Donald Novak said several city departments responsible for public health and safety were poised to review BP's information.
One concern is a plan to move the refinery's wastewater outfall -- recently approved by Indiana regulators to discharge increased levels of ammonia and particulate material -- 3,520 feet closer to Hammond's drinking water intake in Lake Michigan.
Besides Hammond, the intake provides water for Dyer, Griffith and Munster, in addition to 10 communities in Illinois.
Residents commenting on Monday night expressed worries about possible violations of city noise, odor and nuisance ordinances by the proposed asphalt facility.
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