bp whiting refinery wastewater diffuser in lake michigan
DESCRIPTION
Field note from Fish & Wildlife Services regarding the SWPPP (Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan) submitted by British Petroleum Whiting Refinery when they were seeking a NPDES (National Pollution Dissemination & Elimination System) permit. IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) awarded the NPDES permit."BP was required to receive a Section 10 and 404 permit from the Detroit District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."TRANSCRIPT
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US Fish & Wildlife ServiceFieldNotesBP Whiting Refinery wastewater diffuserin Lake Michigan
Region 3, October 29, 2008
As part of their NPDES permit renewal to discharge into LakeMichigan from their refinery in Whiting, Indiana, BP agreed to installa diffuser 3500 feet offshore "to speed the mixing process andreduce the mixing zone size for the dispersion of treated effluent"(including increased ammonia) in the lake. To accomplish this, BPwas required to receive a Section 10 and 404 permit from theDetroit District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The FWS responded to the Corps Public Notice on October 29,2008, stating that we do not support the use of Lake Michigan as amixing zone for effluent in place of further treatment of the waterprior to discharge. We also expressed concern that in the event ofa spill of material such as oil, which has happened at the BP WhitingRefinery in the past, the diffuser system would make it much moredifficult to contain the spill. In addition, we believe that ripraputilized by the project would provide habitat for invasive round goby,to the possible detriment of lake trout and lake sturgeon, which arefederal trust species. We therefore requested significantmodification of the proposed project.
Instead of dumping the refinery effluent into Lake Michigan , FWSrecommended that the discharge be relocated into the LakeGeorge Branch of the Indiana Harbor Canal, which would entail alonger route for the effluent to eventually reach the lake throughIndiana Harbor. We stated that the ammonia loadings in theeffluent could be biologically reduced by the wetland plants withinthe Lake George Branch and that additional wetland plantings couldfurther reduce the ammonia. Since there is no habitat for lake trout
or lake sturgeon in the Lake George Branch or Indiana HarborCanal, these species would not be directly or indirectly adverselyaffected by the diffuser structure or the ammonia.
A local newspaper wrote an article about the FWSrecommendations, and the Natural Resources Defense Council alsosent in critical comments about the diffuser (they have a lawsuitpending on the BP Refinery air pollution permit but declined to fileone about the NPDES permit), but the permit was issued on July 9,2009, without any critical conditions included.
Contact Info: Larry Dean, 612-713-5312, [email protected]