Hearing on BP refinery air permit appeals delayed

WHITING, Ind. -- Environmental groups challenging the state's decision to grant an air pollution permit that allows BP to expand its oil refinery along Lake Michigan have agreed to drop their attempts to halt construction in exchange for expedited hearings on their appeals.

The appeals process can usually take three to four years. Instead, the parties will now go straight to exchanging information in preparation for a hearing next June.

At a prehearing conference in Indianapolis on Monday, BP officials, a coalition of environmental groups and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management agreed it would take 12 months to gather all the information and schedule expert witnesses needed to conduct a full hearing.

Mary Davidsen, chief environmental law judge with the Office of Environmental Adjudication, will hear the appeals, but no date has been set.

The outcome of the appeal will determine whether BP will be required to install additional pollution control equipment as part of its $3.8 billion expansion of its Whiting refinery.

Three appeals were filed against the permit issued by IDEM May 1. Valparaiso attorney Kim Ferraro, who is representing Save the Dunes and the Hoosier Environmental Council, said the environmental groups challenging the air permit still are discussing whether to consolidate their appeals.

"Normally, these things can go on for years and years. That's actually fairly common," said Ann Alexander, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We were rushed through the permit process at lightning speed. We're going to have to take the time now to do what IDEM rushed us through."

BP has said the expanded refinery would be the nation's top processor of heavy high-sulfur Canadian crude oil, boosting its production of gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel by 15 percent to about 4.7 billion gallons a year.