DuPage joins BP pollutant protests

DuPage County leaders joined a growing protest against plans by oil giant BP to increase the pollutants it discharges into Lake Michigan.

The company and Indiana Department of Environment Management have been under fire since state regulators gave BP a permit to boost its ammonia dumping by 54 percent and toxic sludge by 35 percent.

The permit was requested as part of a expansion and upgrade at BP's Whiting refinery.

Board members passed a resolution opposing the department's decision Tuesday.

"I'm in favor of economic development but it needs to be done in a way that's mindful of the environment," county Environmental Committee Chairman Jeff Redick said.

"Communities are unified in the desire for clean natural resources," he said.

Two BP employees, who live in DuPage, told board members to study the issue before "jumping on the bandwagon."

"Please research further as BP is very cognizant of the environmental impact on the community," said Tim McHugh, board president of Keeneyville School District 20.

Downers Grove resident Michelle Graham said the expansion would improve one of the largest refineries in America and help reduce dependence on foreign oil.

"This is a giant leap forward," she said.

Board Member Linda Kurzawa noted that the resolution was aimed not at BP, which she said had become a "lightening rod" but the permitting process in Indiana.

"The larger concern is the protection of the Great Lakes," Kurzawa said.

DuPage Chairman Robert Schillerstrom later noted, "we have to be the guardians of the Great Lakes. Things are being dumped in there that shouldn't be dumped."