BP gets OK to dump mercury into Lake Michigan - Don't need to tell me about BP

[NNN0LHI]

I can never remember when eating fish from Lake Michigan was considered safe due to mercury contamination. Thanks BP you motherscratchers.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/environment/2007-07-30-mercury_N.htm

Posted 7/30/2007 9:01 PM

By Bobby Carmichael, USA TODAY

A BP (BP) refinery in Indiana will be allowed to continue to dump mercury into Lake Michigan under a permit issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

The permit exempts the BP plant at Whiting, Ind., 3 miles southeast of Chicago, from a 1995 federal regulation limiting mercury discharges into the Great Lakes to 1.3 ounces per year.

The BP plant reported releasing 3 pounds of mercury through surface water discharges each year from 2002 to 2005, according to the Toxics Release Inventory, a database on pollution emissions kept by the Environmental Protection Agency that is based on information reported by companies.

The permit was issued July 21 in connection with the plant's $3.8 billion expansion, but only late last week began to generate public controversy. It gives the company until at least 2012 to meet the federal standard.

The action was denounced by environmental groups and members of Congress.

"With one permit, this company and this state are undoing years of work to keep pollution out of our Great Lakes," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., co-sponsor of a resolution overwhelmingly approved by the House last week that condemned BP's plans.

Studies have shown that mercury, a neurotoxin, is absorbed by fish and can be harmful if eaten in significant quantities, particularly by pregnant women and children. Each of the eight Great Lakes states warns residents to avoid certain kinds of fish or limit consumption.

[snappyturtle]

1. Good find....if one can can this good. Maybe BP will want to incorporate

this information into all their 'concern' in making things right.

[glinda]

2. BP needs to be financially drained dry. No amount of money will restore the ecosystem

that will affect EVERYTHING. We here in MN might loose our Loon population because of this.

[snappyturtle]

9. OMG! I lived in northern MN from '92-2005....on a lake with

many loon familes. Woman Lake...Cass County. Never thought about this....another ecological fallout. Oldest bird specie on Earth. Horrible.

[glitch]

3. And the assholes who gave them the okay...nt

[1776Forever]

4. Did you see Rev. Jesse Jackson on Ed's Show tonight? He mentioned this!

He is leading a protest against BP and he said he lead one against BP in 2006 in TEXAS CITY, Texas!

Here is an AP article about it:

Jesse Jackson leads protest at BP's Indiana refinery
Associated Press
Posted: June 3, 2010

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100603/NEWS05/6030469/1008/LOCAL19/Jackson-leads-protest-at-BP-s-Indiana-refinery

WHITING, Ind. -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson says the Gulf Coast oil spill is a result of the federal government's weak enforcement of the nation's environmental laws.

Jackson also said Wednesday that those laws are too weak and that the fines BP has faced for environmental violations are minimal compared with the British-based oil company's profits.

[enough]

5. K&R (nt)

[Hubert Flottz]

6. BP Too Big To Jail!

[ThomWV]

7. Every single coal-fired Electricity plant dumps mercury into the air you breath

Every second of every minute of ever hour of every day of every week of every month of every year your local power company is poisoning you with mercury it dumps into the air and nobody seems to care ...

[lfairban]

10. Good Point

I think the NESHAP air pollution limit is something like a ton of mercury per year. ( It's been a while.) Three pounds is trivial. It is about three liquid ounces. I have seen five times that much in a container on a lab shelf.

Most of the mercury is coming from coal fired power plants.

[NNN0LHI]

17. Except BP is releasing their polluted water right near the Chicago water intakes

So it is going almost directly into the water supply for millions of people.

Don

[blindpig]

8. Expropriate without compensation

k&r

[Hannah Bell]

11. why does a foreign corp get to dump toxics in US waterways?

that right should be reserved to US corps...

[gmoney]

12. 3 pounds? Wouldn't that fit in like a 2-liter pop bottle?

I'm guessing that the mercury is in trace amounts in other discharge, but if they can measure it, why can't they capture it? Seems the amount is small enough to just store.

[NNN0LHI]

14. Using recent history of BP estimates if they are admitting to 3 pounds its probably a lot more

A whole lot more.

Don

[laughingliberal]

13. K & R nt

[Bozita]

15. an angry K&R

[Dont TS Me Brah]

16. I was expecting an ONION link,,,

it's THAT ridiculous.

[OhioChick]

18. K&R n/t

[mzmolly]

19. It's too bad they can't put that mercury to good use, like adding "small amounts" to a vaccine

or something. :sarcasm:

With all seriousness, this is horrible.

[Heywood J]

20. Hello, Minamata disease.

The Great Lakes are a source of drinking water to something like 50,000,000 people. Give them the corporate death penalty - ban BP from doing business on this continent and confiscate/sell their assets to pay for their waste and spills.

Governments do the same for people - do the work, send the bill, place a lien, force the sale of a house. It should apply to corporations as well.