Citing " ... ongoing regional opposition to any increase in discharge permit limits for Lake Michigan creates an unacceptable level of business risk for this $3.8 billion investment," BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone announced Thursday, August 23.
The permit, which would allow BP to release 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of suspended solids daily into Lake Michigan, was granted on June 21. Ammonia feeds oxygen-sucking algae blooms that kill fish, and the suspended solids in treated wastewater include mercury, lead, nickel and vanadium.
"We will not make use of the higher discharge limits in our new permit," he said. "We're not aware of any technology that will get us to those limits but we'll work to develop a project that allows us to do so. If necessary changes to the project result in a material impact to project viability, we could be forced to cancel it."
Thank you, Mr. Malone. We appreciate your response to the public outcry. That said, many of us would feel a whole lot better if the permit itself was rescinded entirely. Here's why:
Cameron Davis, President of the Alliance for the Great Lakes said "Citizens have a right to ensure that government decisions affecting the Great Lakes use the best policy, technology and efforts. The real story here is that people want a new standard of care for the Great Lakes. They don't want to see the absence of more harm. They don't want to see the status quo. They want to see the region's waterways proactively restored."
Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill) asked, "Would anyone do this at Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon? Well, breaking news -- the Great Lakes are our national park. We've made dramatic improvements in the environmental quality of Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes. It would be unbelievably harmful to allow the first increase in dumping pollution in the Great Lakes in 10 or 15 years."
Judge Catherine Gibbs has agreed to hear a petition by the Alliance for the Great Lakes challenging the water pollution discharge. "The petitioner has stated sufficient facts to raise legal issues regarding whether a legal exception applies in this instance," she wrote in her order.
If you'd like to ask BP to rescind its permit voluntarily, click here: https://www.environmentillinois.org/action/protect-lake-michigan/bp-email
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