BP agrees to $500K penalty, soot limits at Indiana refinery

Oil giant BP agreed Thursday to pay a $512,450 penalty and reduce soot emissions from its Whiting refinery in Indiana under an agreement with regulators and activists who accused the company of violating an earlier deal.

The U.S. District Court settlement modifies a previous consent decree that required BP Products North America Inc. to limit releases from the sprawling facility on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan.

“Today’s agreement should significantly reduce fine particle pollution from BP’s refinery and ensure that violations of emission limits are reported and quickly corrected,” said Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project and a former enforcement director with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The refinery 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Chicago converts around 440,000 barrels of crude oil daily into gasoline, other fuels and asphalt. It covers 1,400 acres in Whiting, East Chicago, and Hammond, Indiana, which are largely communities of color.

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