Kirk calls for boycott over BP dumping

After outcry over a permit extension that allows oil company BP to continue dumping ammonia and mercury into Lake Michigan, Rep. Mark Kirk urged a boycott of the company and said he would not buy their gas.

"You have the power to send BP a message," Kirk said at a press conference at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire Tuesday. "I think we should boycott BP."

The oil company has been criticized for an extension this year of an Indiana permit that lets BP continue to release small amounts of mercury, more than 1,000 pounds of ammonia and thousands of pounds of suspended solids into Lake Michigan.

Kirk was in Lincolnshire to promote a school safety bill when he made the comments.

Kirk said news of a crude oil leak in Munster, Ind., from a closed BP oil pipeline troubled him.

"I think this is a disturbing development," the Highland Park Republican said. Kirk said later that though he previously did not pay much attention to where he bought his gas, that has changed. "I don't buy at BP anymore."

BP spokesman Scott Dean responded that Kirk's call for a boycott was political in nature.

"Politics and alarmist and extreme kind of viewpoints shouldn't let people forget the facts," Dean said. "This project is all about increasing energy security for the Midwest."

Dean also said that BP released just 3 pounds of mercury into Lake Michigan in 2005, and their other emissions meet Indiana and federal environmental standards.

"We're willing to look at ways to keep our emissions even lower," he said.