Bearing signs with slogans like “East Chicago demands clear air” and “IDEM, let us breathe,” nearly 100 Northwest Indiana residents and environmental advocates gathered to voice anger and frustration at BP Whiting refinery at a Thursday public meeting held by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Held on the campus of Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, Indiana, the event was an opportunity for members of the public to weigh in on a pending air permit renewal application submitted by BP for its refinery. Though the meeting was part of the routine re-permitting process that IDEM undertakes every five years, interest in the event was high due to a series of publicized environmental incidents.
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