Times Staff and Wire Reports
WASHINGTON | The U.S. House overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to condemn Indiana's permit to allow BP to increase its Whiting Refinery's daily dumping of waste into Lake Michigan.
"This Congress will not simply stand by while our Great Lakes are treated like a dumping zone," said Illinois Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the House Democratic Conference and the bill's chief sponsor.
The resolution urges -- but does not require -- Indiana to reconsider the permit and asks that Congress take steps to protect the Great Lakes.
"We're disappointed that the vote was taken without an opportunity for all the facts to be put on the table," Scott Dean, a BP spokesman, said.
The new discharge permit, which BP says is needed to proceed with a $3 billion plant expansion, allows the refinery to increase daily ammonia output by 54 percent and release 35 percent more suspended solids -- silty materials leftover after wastewater is treated and filtered. While significantly greater than present levels, the increased discharges still fall within federal limits.
All of Illinois' 19 House members voted in favor of the measure except Peoria Republican Ray Lahood, who was absent.
Indiana's nine-member delegation was divided along partisan lines. Four Democrats backed the resolution. One, Julia Carson, was a sponsor, but did not vote. The House Republicans from Indiana opposed the resolution.
Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., spoke in favor of the measure, citing the resources the Great Lakes provide.
"Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes grow more valuable each day, and in order to maintain and improve this important natural and global resource, it is crucial to reduce the level of pollution being discharged in them," he said on the House floor Tuesday.
U.S. Rep. Mark Souder, an Indiana Republican, disagreed.
"BP is investing more than $3 billion in our state, and Democrats are targeting it, ostensibly for environmental reasons, despite the fact that the plant will still fall within federal pollution guidelines," Souder said. "This appears to be a sham, and I'm frankly disappointed that the House passed the bill by such a wide margin."
Wednesday's vote was the second public blow to BP in two days. On Tuesday, the oil company took a barrage of criticism from Great Lakes lawmakers.
BP says it will continue a dialogue with members of Congress, but is not putting its plans on hold.
"We've agreed to review our approaches to water treatment at the Whiting Refinery and we will go back to the congressional delegation in September and tell them the results of our review," Dean said.
Caught in the middle of the conflict between Congress and BP is the Environmental Protection Agency, which has yet to respond to a complaint from U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
In a letter, dated July 16, Durbin expressed opposition to the BP permit, which he said goes against the federal Clean Water Act and Indiana's anti-degradation policy.
Phillipa Cannon, a spokeswoman for the EPA's Region Five office in Chicago, said the EPA is preparing a response to Durbin's letter.
Contributing to this report were Simon Brown of The Times Washington Bureau and Dennis Conrad of The Associated Press.
