Chicago Still Fighting For Future Of Lake Michigan..And Cheap Gas
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08.16.07
We TreeHugger writers are sometimes advised that society 'can't buy its way out of climate change' solely by shopping for green "stuff" and reshaping individual lifestyles. Similarly, the folks are Grist are fond of saying that the prospect of runaway climate change means we need 'big solutions.' Fair enough from both quarters. We'd like to add third prerequisite for achieving a better environment: bare knuckle politics are a necessity when vested interests 'lay down in front of the progress bus.' For a contemporary example of this point, we turn to a U.S. City with a long standing reputation for high skills in this area: Chicago.
"Chicago city vehicles would no longer use BP-issued gas credit cards until the company backtracks on plans to dump more pollutants into Lake Michigan [pictured] under an order drafted by Ald. Edward Burke (14th)..."
Context: this issue relates to plans for increasing the capacity of the BP owned Whiting Refinery south of Chicago. The proposed upgrade will enable this very old refinery...located on what was once a marsh continuous to Lake Michigan..to handle large quantities of Alberta Tar Sands crude. On the one hand, Lake Michigan water will have to assimilate the waste products of refining increased volumes of Alberta "sour" crude. On the other hand, Chicago is one of the few American cities with a sustainable and clean water supply, plus numerous extensive beaches adjacent to the city center. (Chicago and many of its suburbs obtain their drinking water from Lake Michigan intakes located a scant few miles from the Whiting refinery discharge, which is on the southwestern tip of the Lake.)
Cards are on the table. Chicago wants to have cheap plentiful fuel and a bountiful high quality lake front and water supply. BP wants a secure, affordable supply of feedstock and a place to dump its waste after processing according to the letter of the law. (Nothing illegal was proposed by BP.) However, unless BP accepts the need for capitalizing a higher level of waste treatment, which would ultimately make the City of Chicago and it's citizens pay more for fuel, Lake Michigan, and, eventually, everyone in its watershed, will have to pay the price of turning away from Saudi Arabia as the US' major supplier.
The value of Lake Michigan's water may soon exceed that of oil. Would citizens accept the "China-fication" of the Chicago area's water resources? Apparently not.
"Burke, chairman of the Finance Committee, said he would also like to take an extra step and bar three major banks -- who he said share corporate directors with BP -- from city bond deals unless the oil company changes its plans...The order to cut off the gas-card business was approved unanimously during a joint public hearing Thursday of the Committees on Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities, and Parks and Recreation. The measure will go to the full City Council in September." Via::Chicago Tribute
There is an opportunity still for BP to green it's global legacy at this flagship US refinery. Are they up to the challenge?
See also Lloyd's post on "BP"
Image credit:: NASA, Lake Michigan, visible earth.
Image note: there are virtually no available aerial images of the Whiting Refinery to be found on the internet. This is the 4'th largest refinery in the US and one of the oldest. This lack of imagery has to be the result of Homeland Security purge requests.
B P AMOCO WHITING REFINERY
2815 Indianapolis Blvd, Whiting, IN
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=+B+P+AMOCO+WHITING+REFINERY,+INDIANA+&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=41.667847,-87.477264&spn=0.057448,0.107803&z=14&om=1
or
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=41.665603~-87.4772&style=a&lvl=15&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&encType=1
There is satellite imagery to a pretty respectable scale (given it's proximity to Chicago) of the Whiting Refinery. Google Maps even has it marked out as 'Amoco Oil Company'.
Looks like a pretty nasty place....
==== author's response follows ====
Thanks Adam.
Surprised Google has not been pressured by DHS to blank out all the big infrastructure panoramas with fine detail.
BP to review options
http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2007/08/16/news/top_news/docc0c6c5cea3c9eac486257339000eee5f.txt#blogcomments
Yet another PR stunt with no action!
keep going BP. your gonna make a lot of enemies in short order.
D~W
Chicago frequently has some of the highest gas prices in the country. the BP refinery is in Indiana, which, in case you didn't know, is in a different state than Chicago. its lousy reporting to blame Chicago (and its citizens and government) for the behavior of a refinery in another state. yes, we in the Chicago area want a clean lake, but our only opinion on the bp refinery isn't that it needs to give us lots more cheaper gas but that it needs to not dump excess waste in the lake. you've painted Chicago as wanting it both ways, and thats just plain illogical re: a refinery not even in Illinois.
==== author's response follows ===
Would it make any difference if I told you that I am from Chicago and have been to Whiting, a 10 minute ride from South Chicago.?
The referenced Tribune story mentions the City of Chicago threatening to yank BP credit cards from City employees. From what other refinery might you suppose the BP stations in the metro area get most of their gasoline from?
Not to be contrary, but I live in the Chicago area, and I don't really see much more than talk from Daley about green. Perhaps there are things going on beyond my sight, but the fact remains that the City of Chicago has a truly awful recycling program. Until that changes, I will continue to treat all of Daley's green talk as just that. Talk.
I worked at the Whiting Refinery as a consultant for 8 months and trust me, the place is FILTHY.