[BCNnet] IDEM chief should go nwi Times (July 24, 2007)

[Carolyn A. Marsh]

http://nwitimes.com/articles/2007/07/24/news/top_news/doc403385163209e401862
57322000131fd.txt

TOP FRONT PAGE

Date posted online: Tuesday, July 24, 2007
IDEM chief should go, environmentalist says 
Watchdog claims BP permit hurts state's reputation
BY ANDREA HOLECEK
holecek at nwitimes.com
219.933.3316 


 


 

MERRILLVILLE | A local environmental activist wants Indiana Department of
Environmental Management Commissioner Thomas Easterly to resign, claiming he
has "failed to protect the public interest."

"Will Commissioner Thomas Easterly pull the BP water permit and stop the BP
air permit?" writes Whiting resident Carolyn Marsh in an e-mail she is
circulating throughout the Northwest Indiana environmental community. "No,
therefore we must move forward and demand his resignation."

Marsh, who is a member of BP's Whiting Citizen's Advisory Committee, said
"people are absolutely enraged" at the agency and its leader. The
initiative, proposed by a downstate environmentalist, is earning widespread
support, she said. 

"People want his head on a platter," Marsh said of Easterly. "He's supposed
to be the protector of the environment and he's not doing a very good job,
especially with the expansion of the Whiting refinery adding more pollution
to the water and air."

IDEM spokesman Rob Elstro said Monday he couldn't comment on Marsh's
statements or her call for Easterly's resignation. Easterly could not be
reached for comment.

Marsh will ask members of the Hoosier Environmental Council to approve a
resolution Saturday calling for Easterly's ouster. If it is approved, a
"no-confidence" call will be presented at an Aug. 9 IDEM public hearing
taking place at its regional office in Merrillville. The hearing is on a BP
variance request to alter which portions of the plant can release smokestack
particles. The variance is needed because federal regulators have tightened
standards for measuring that form of pollution.

"The state of Indiana's reputation has been seriously harmed, and we really
have to deal with the people responsible, and that's Easterly," March said.
"He's got to go."

March and other environmentalists object to IDEM's recent issuance of a
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that allows the
refinery to increase its discharges into Lake Michigan in connection with a
planned $3.8 billion expansion project. Although the discharge would stay
within federal and state water pollution standards, many environmentalists
oppose the permit's issuance and are calling for further review of the
matter.

Tom Keilman, spokesman for BP Whiting Refinery, said the permit process was
transparent.

"All the rules were followed in terms of public comment period and with
regard to the public to provide information on its impact," he said. "We
worked very hard and diligently on it, and we feel the commissioner's office
did its due diligence in regard to the permit process."

BP said the treated water released from the refinery is more than 99.9
percent water, and that while the permit allows the refinery's average
ammonia discharge to increase, it would be at levels that are less than half
permitted by federal environmental guidelines.

"The story has caused great concern in the environmental community, as well
as with elected officials," Keilman said. "We're providing information that
is relevant and pertinent to the project. It's our view that public
policy-makers should make their judgments based on best available science.
What we need to make clear is that we are not dumping sludge and toxins into
Lake Michigan."

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