BY
JOHN KREROWICZ
jkrerowicz@kenoshanews.com
Wisconsin
citizens need to do some old-fashioned lobbying of elected officials to have
them express outrage at a permit that allows mercury to be dumped from an Indiana refinery, a state
environment advocate said.
The
BP refinery, in Whiting, Ind., is allowed to
continue to dump the toxic material into Lake Michigan
under a new state water permit, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“We
definitely should call legislators and let them know this is not something that
would be held as appropriate,” said Andrew Nelson, campaign coordinator for the
non-profit, non-partisan Wisconsin Environment. “This is something we need to
draw attention to.”
The
permit gives the oil refinery until 2012 to comply with federal regulations on
mercury dumping. But documents showed Indiana
officials expect that the company probably would request permission at that
time to continue the practice, according to the newspaper.
BP
reportedly dumps about two pounds of mercury into Lake
Michigan each year. A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule
limits the BP discharge to 0.08 of a pound.
The
toxic metal ends up in vegetation eaten by fish, accumulating in the animals.
Experts talk in terms of 1 part per million of mercury in fish as leading to
recommendations that fish not be eaten.
State
Sen. Bob Wirch, D-Pleasant Prairie, said that he was disappointed with the
permit situation both as a BP stockholder and as a legislator. “Clearly, they should treat Lake
Michigan better,” he said.
The
matter has not been raised among elected officials, said Wirch. But he said he
might contact the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment and
Natural Resources, of which Wirch is a member, about the situation.
