Ann Alexander, Esq is an attorney who conducts environmental litigation for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). She is currently litigating against the construction and operation permits that have been issued to BP for expansion of the BP-Whiting refinery, located in Whiting, Indiana. The refinery is being expanded so as to have sufficient capacity to refine tar sands sourced crude. Tar sands crude, also referred to as bitumen is a very dirty form of fuel resource. Refining the bitumen involves a large number of steps, including upgrading to syncrude, which can be transported through pipelines from northeastern Alberta, Canada where the bitumen is extracted to refineries located in the Great Lakes basin. NRDC filed legal actions against BP and the State of Indiana because the permits issued to the facility were based on deliberate underestimates of pollutant releases. BP underestimated releases in an attempt to avoid compliance with Clean Air Act New Source Review, which requires utilization of modern air pollution control technology when a new facility is built or when an existing facility significantly alters its sources of emissions.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has agreed with NRDCâs position concerning the underestimate of emissions and ordered BP and the State of Indiana to produce a credible estimate of emission increases. Once an acceptable estimate exists, it will be used to determine what air pollution control equipment is required to bring the expansion project into compliance with the Clean Air Act.
Attorney Alexander puts the legal challenges to the BP-Whiting permits in perspective. Clean Air Act litigation is a lawful way to create some measure of justice in the expansion of industrial projects. However, considering the total amount of environmental damage caused by tar sands exploitation, NRDC is opposing the extraction and refining of tar sands, thus taking a stop tar sands position. The organizationâs strategy is to attack tar sands exploitation as a morally indefensible activity. Bringing large numbers of people to view the tar sands as an unethical source of energy constitutes the big plan for NRDC. A mass movement could develop and make the demand that tar sands exploitation be stopped. Honor to NRDC and Attorney Alexander for taking up a strong role in protecting the Earth and the living beings of the Earth. We discuss the possibilities of bringing such a mass movement into existence and find agreement upon the matter of spiritual forces being important to the creation of this force for change.
![<?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/rp-navimg.gif)
![Support the <?php echo $config['site_title']; ?>](/static/images/support.png)
