Environmentalists File Appeal Over BP Plan

May 19, 2008

Post-Tribune staff report

A coalition of environmental groups filed an appeal of BP Whiting’s air permit today, saying they’re disappointed the Indiana Department of Environmental Management wasn’t willing to address concerns they raised in public comments regarding the expansion of the plant.

“We are extremely disappointed to have to take this step, but IDEM unwillingness to address the environmental community's concerns has forced our hand. This is about protecting public health and ensuring that the communities around this facili ty are not subjected to more air pollution than the law allows,” said Tom Anderson, executive director of Michigan City-based Save the Dunes Council, which is part of the appealing coalition.

Today is the deadline for filing appeals to the permit.

The petition for administrative review submitted today was filed by Save the Dunes represented by the NRDC; the Hoosier Chapter of the Sierra Club, which is represented by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project; the Hoosier Environmental Counsel represented by Legal Environmental Aid Foundation of Indiana with the Environmental Law and Policy Center of counsel; and two individual petitioners, Highland residents Tom Tsourlis and Susan Eleuterio, who are also represented by LEAF and ELPC.

One grassroots group, the Calumet Project, in conjunction with Global Community Monitor, filed a separate appeal last week. The Natural Resources Defense Council plans to bring its own lawsuit against BP.

http://www.post-trib.com/news/957690,BPAPPEAL519.article

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