BP refinery sends undetermined amount of oil into Lake Michigan
by The Associated Press
Company assessing situation after malfunction at facility in northwestern Indiana led to release
WHITING, Ind.—BP says it is assessing how much crude oil entered Lake Michigan following a malfunction at its northwestern Indiana refinery.
BP spokesperson Scott Dean says crews have placed booms across a cove at the company’s Whiting, Ind., refinery where workers discovered the oil spill March 24.
Dean says BP believes the oil released during an oil refining malfunction has been confined to that cove.
He says the oil entered the refinery’s cooling water system, which discharges into the lake about 30 kilometres southeast of downtown Chicago.
Indiana Department of Environmental Management spokesperson Dan Goldblatt says an agency staffer reported seeing a large sheen on the lake about 2 a.m. March 25.
Dean says that sheen was in the cove and was no longer visible several hours later.
