By Gitte Laasby, Post-Tribune
glaasby@post-trib.com
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management likely will rewrite BP Whiting Refinery's air permit, Commissioner Tom Easterly told the Post-Tribune on Thursday.
A coalition of environmental groups sued IDEM and BP in May 2008 for not accounting for all air pollution from the expanded refinery, including new flares that burn off excessive gas.
On Thursday, Easterly said staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has convinced him not all emissions were accounted for in the permit.
"She showed us we simply didn't remember about certain changes that are there, so the emissions weren't accounted for. So they have to be accounted for. That's true," Easterly said following a presentation in Portage.
A lead counsel in the court case, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council Ann Alexander, said she was happy about Easterly's acknowledgement, but called it "an admission of the blindingly obvious that's been clear to the rest of us for some time now."
Alexander didn't buy Easterly's explanation that IDEM forgot pollution resulting from modifications at the refinery.
"I'm not sure which emissions he might have been referring to, but the ones referenced in EPA's (objection) order would be hard to forget about. I'm not sure one can readily forget there are going to be three new flares constructed in the new project," she said.
By request from the environmental coalition, the EPA objected to the permit in October 2009, saying IDEM underestimated air pollution, especially from flares.
Easterly would not elaborate on which emissions were left out.
"We have to figure out what those emissions are and how they affect the permit," he told the Post-Tribune. "We are going to fix this. Most likely, we'll issue a revised permit."
Easterly indicated BP is partially to blame for the omission because the company did not identify all sources of air pollution.
"We repeatedly tell people, it's their responsibility to identify all the emissions points. We try to help by saying, 'Have you looked at this and that?'" he said.
BP spokesman Tom Keilman said BP has "a legitimate permit to operate" but is working to provide IDEM with data.
"We believe we submitted all the information and followed what was necessary for us to receive the permit," he said. "The permit was issued by IDEM and we believe we had a valid permit at the time."
Alexander said it was IDEM's job to check whether BP's emission estimates were accurate.
"IDEM is responsible for protecting the public. That's not supposed to be a passive role. It's their job to determine what the emissions are going to be and not blindly taking the applicant's word for it," she said. "They're supposed to provide the adult supervision."
None of the parties would comment on how Easterly's admission might affect the court battle over the air permit. The case is pending with the state's Office of Environmental Adjudication, which reviews IDEM's permits.