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Durbin dives into BP refinery debate

August 2, 2007

WASHINGTON -- Following a meeting with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials, Sen. Dick Durbin said Thursday that they would not back away from supporting Indiana's decision to permit an oil refinery to dump more pollutants into Lake Michigan.

But the Illinois Democrat, who is the second-highest-ranking member of the Senate's majority party, said efforts to block the BP oil refinery project may soon turn to fighting an air pollution permit.

''I was asking about the air permit,'' which BP has yet to secure, Durbin said of his Capitol meeting with EPA officials. ''They assured me it would be a much different process. They are now going through it, scrubbing it down with a fine-tooth comb.''

Among those who met with Durbin, a leading opponent of the BP plan, were EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and EPA Regional Administrator Mary Gade, a former Illinois EPA administrator for eight years in the 1990s.

Durbin said he was disappointed to hear from the officials that they had signed off on the decision by Indiana regulators to issue a permit to allow for increased water pollution by BP.

With the Illinois delegation apparently united in its opposition to BP's plan, the senator said he thought the EPA officials would at least do a careful review of the process that led to the permit's granting.

''But it appears they are not going to question it,'' he said.

U.S. EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood confirmed the meeting the agency's officials had with Durbin. She said they explained to him what action was taken to ensure the project meets requirements of the federal Clean Water Act.

Gade was not immediately available for further comment on details of the meeting because she was in transit, according to her spokeswoman, Phillipa Cannon.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has issued a permit allowing BP to increase its daily dumping of ammonia and silt into Lake Michigan as part of the company's plan to expand its Whiting, Ind., refinery by 15 percent by the year 2011. Officials have said the amount still would fall within federal guidelines.

BP officials told members of Illinois' congressional delegation at a Capitol gathering last week that they would meet with them again in September after reviewing their expansion plan further for possible ways for dealing with environmental concerns.

''We told BP to be prepared, because we're going to fight the air permit if they didn't change the refinery's impact on Lake Michigan and the area,'' Durbin said.

He added that he would like to see BP present an alternative plan for its refinery.

''I asked EPA, ''Did you investigate any alternatives that might be better for the lake?' and they said 'no,''' Durbin recalled. ''BP said they would look and see if they can give us a better approach. I hope they do.'' AP

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.