Paying the environmental price for the fuck-ups of other states

The people of Florida have been standing up to oil industry pressure for decades. While their neighboring coastal states have approved off-shore drilling, in hopes creating jobs, and filling their coffers, the people of Florida have stood strong, opting to forgo immediate financial gratification, and instead safeguard their shoreline and wetlands for future generations. Of course, that didn’t keep the oil from reaching their shores. Right now, two enormous plumes of oil from Louisiana’s Deepwater Horizon rig, are making their way toward Florida’s panhandle. And, it would seem to me that, in addition to going after BP in court, the state of Florida might also have a case against the state of Louisiana. On a very much related subject, I would think that we here in Michigan might have a case against the state of Indiana, which, if you can believe it, just gave BP the go-ahead to dump more ammonia and toxic, heavy metal sludge into Lake Michigan. Here’s a clip from the Chicago Tribune:

The massive BP oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., is planning to dump significantly more ammonia and industrial sludge into Lake Michigan, running counter to years of efforts to clean up the Great Lakes.

Indiana regulators exempted BP from state environmental laws to clear the way for a $3.8 billion expansion that will allow the company to refine heavier Canadian crude oil. They justified the move in part by noting the project will create 80 new jobs.

Under BP’s new state water permit, the refinery — already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes — can release 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge into Lake Michigan each day. Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish, while sludge is full of concentrated heavy metals.

With oil on our east coast, there is a huge tourism opportunity for the state of Michigan, and we can’t afford to have BP come along and fuck that up too… Haven’t they done enough already?

[This post was brought to you by the good people of the BP security forces, who risk their lives every day to keep people off of public beaches.]