BP's Refinery in Indiana and Lake Michigan Controvercy

In the past, big industrial companies didn't care about the environment. But the trend is changing rapidly. Lots of industrial companies are starting to care about the environment. Lots of industries in the past have abused the environment and suffered the consequences, like a mining company in Irian Jaya, in Papua new Guinea. The consequence was, the company was thrown out of the country, a war started because of it and the native people of Irian Jaya suffered.

Now a days things have changed, the big companies care about the environment and the people living near the factories. BP is one of the companies that environmentally friendly but the recent developments might say otherwise. BP factory in Whiting, Indiana has been allowed by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to dump more ammonia and sludge into lake Michigan.

BP received permission from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be exempt from environmental laws that cap the amount of toxins into the lake. It will be allowed to include in its daily discharges into the lake 54 percent more ammonia (above the current 1,584 pounds) and 35 percent more sludge (above the current 4,925 pounds).

Even though BP has been exempted from environmental law, BP claim that they will stick to the Federal pollution guidelines. Even though the BP plant in Indiana will be dumping more more ammonia and sludge, only treated water will be released into Lake Michigan which will be 99.9% water. All sludge will be treated according to Federal law and will be released into lake Michigan.

Even though the new permit allows BP to dump more ammonia in lake Michigan, the ammonia release will still be under half the amount that federal environmental guidelines allows. So, the ammonia released in lake Michigan will be well within the legal limits.

BP refinery in Whiting is making continuous improvement and they have voluntarily reduced the suspended solids in the sludge and water it dumps in lake Michigan by 40% in the last four years and they will continue to do so in the future.

As we know, United States imports lots of oil from the Middle East and after the 9/11 attacks, United States don't want to be dependent on oil from the Middle East. To do so, the government is making some trade offs and allowing BP to dump more ammonia and sludge in Lake Michigan to process more crude oil from Canada (a much more reliable source than the middle east). They are taking steps to stop being dependent on Middle East oil. But this doesn't mean BP will dump large amount of waste products in Lake Michigan, instead they will just be dumping less than half the amount allowed by federal environmental guidelines of the treated wastes in lake Michigan. The best bet would be to do a lot of research on alternative energy and stop relying on fossil fuel as it is not going to last for ever so why not start looking for clean alternative energy. Alternative energy will surely help United States as well as other countries to stop being dependent on Middle Easter oil or oil from any country or reason.