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1
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 299

 
2     WHEREAS, Lake Michigan is a valuable fresh water resource
3 for the State of Illinois; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Pollution in Lake Michigan is a long-running
5 problem for the citizens of the State who use the Lake as a
6 primary source of drinking water; and
 
7     WHEREAS, The beaches of Lake Michigan provide a significant
8 source of tourism income for the State of Illinois and other
9 states bordering the Lake; and
 
10     WHEREAS, The British Petroleum oil refinery in Whiting,
11 Indiana is planning an expansion that would increase the
12 refinery's discharges into the Lake significantly, including
13 54% more ammonia (for a total discharge of 1,584 pounds of
14 ammonia per day) and 35% more total suspended solids (for a
15 total discharge of 4,925 pounds of sludge per day) on a daily
16 basis, running contrary to years of efforts to clean up the
17 Great Lakes; and
 
18     WHEREAS, Ammonia promotes algae blooms that can kill fish
19 in the Lake; and
 
20     WHEREAS, The increased discharge into the Lake runs counter

 

 

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1 to a provision of the federal Clean Water Act that prohibits
2 any downgrade in water quality near a pollution source, such as
3 the British Petroleum refinery; and
 
4     WHEREAS, Indiana State regulators are allowing British
5 Petroleum to install equipment that mixes its waste with clean
6 lake water about 200 feet offshore, and actively diluting
7 pollution in this way is banned in Lake Michigan under Indiana
8 law; and
 
9     WHEREAS, The Indiana Department of Environmental
10 Management granted British Petroleum the first-ever exemption
11 to allow the pollution "mixing zone" in Lake Michigan; and
 
12     WHEREAS, Environmental regulators remain unsure about the
13 ecological effects of the relatively new refining process that
14 British Petroleum plans to use and the increased discharge into
15 Lake Michigan; and
 
16     WHEREAS, State and federal environmental regulators have
17 agreed that there is not enough room at the British Petroleum
18 site to upgrade the refinery's water treatment plant; and
 
19     WHEREAS, The United States Environmental Protection Agency
20 has not objected to the State of Indiana's decision to allow
21 the increased discharge by British Petroleum; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL
2 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we strongly urge the
3 United States Environmental Protection Agency to follow a
4 strict interpretation of the federal Clean Water Act to
5 minimize any additional pollution into Lake Michigan; and be it
6 further
 
7     RESOLVED, That we urge British Petroleum to review and
8 reconsider the wastewater treatment facilities proposed to
9 serve the expansion and reconfiguration of its Whiting, Indiana
10 refinery with the specific intent to supplement or enhance
11 treatment efficiencies to eliminate or reduce projected
12 increases in ammonia nitrogen and total suspended solids
13 discharged into Lake Michigan; and be it further
 
14     RESOLVED, That we urge the United States Environmental
15 Protection Agency to prohibit the Whiting, Indiana British
16 Petroleum refinery from increasing the refinery's current
17 discharges of ammonia and sludge into Lake Michigan until the
18 ecological and environmental impact of the increased
19 discharges is fully understood by federal and state
20 environmental regulators; and be it further
 
21     RESOLVED, That we urge the United States Environmental
22 Protection Agency to require more investigation into the

 

 

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1 possibility of expanding the British Petroleum refinery's
2 water treatment plant before allowing the refinery to proceed
3 with current plans for increased pollution discharge into Lake
4 Michigan; and be it further
 
5     RESOLVED, That we urge the Illinois delegation to the
6 United States Congress to take legislative action against any
7 planned increase in the discharge of pollution into Lake
8 Michigan that is contrary to the federal Clean Water Act and
9 threatens the health of the environment of this State; and be
10 it further
 
11     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
12 delivered to each member of the Illinois delegation to the
13 United States Congress, to the administrator of the United
14 States Environmental Protection Agency, Stephen L. Johnson,
15 and to the Great Lakes National Program Manager for the United
16 States Environmental Protection Agency, Mary A. Gade.