BusinessWeek Green Biz BP Backs Down: Chalk Up a Victory To Local Action

BusinessWeek Green Biz BP Backs Down: Chalk Up a Victory To Local Action

BP Backs Down: Chalk Up a Victory To Local Action
Posted by: Heather Green on August 24
The Chicago Tribune reports that BP, under attack for proposing a massive increase in pollution as part of an oil refinery expansion on the banks of Lake Michigan, has backed down. It’s become a mini cause celeb online, pitting BPs marketing image against its everyday actions.

Local groups, joined by some local politicians and even Eddie Vedder or Pearl Jam, didn’t buy BP’s argument that an increase in dumping ammonium and sludge into the lake was necessary.

“When BP secured its new water permit, federal and state regulators agreed there was not anything the company could do to keep more pollution out of Lake Michigan. Based largely on what BP told them, regulators concluded there is not enough room at the 1,400-acre refinery for the necessary equipment, according to public documents.

“Few complained about the permit while it was under consideration earlier this year, something critics said could be attributed to paltry outreach by BP and Indiana regulators. But following a Tribune story about the project in mid-July, opponents gathered more than 100,000 petition signatures, and a bipartisan group of politicians and celebrities urged BP to back off.”