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Office of Governor Pat Quinn

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Save Lake Michigan



Denouncing Indiana's plan to reverse 35 years of progress toward cleaner water in the Great Lakes, Lt. Governor Pat Quinn announced a new on-line petition drive opposing BP oil company's plans to pollute Lake Michigan with hundreds of tons of ammonia each year.

"The waters of Lake Michigan represent an extrodinary resource shared by millions of people in four states," said Quinn, vice chairman of the bi-national Great Lakes Commission. "I urge everyone who values clean, safe drinking water to go to our website, www.CleanWaterIllinois.org, and tell Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, U.S. E.P.A. head Stephen Johnson and BP America chairman Robert A. Malone that we strongly oppose this plan to increase chemical dumping in our lake."

On June 21, Indiana issued a state water permit allowing the BP oil refinery in Whiting - already one of Indiana's major polluters - to dump as much as 1,500 pounds of ammonia into Lake Michigan each day.

"This lake is the source of drinking water for more than 15 million people in four states," Quinn said at a press conference, while holding up a half-gallon bottle of household ammonia. "Under this plan, BP will dump the equivalent of nearly 5,000 half-gallon bottles of household ammonia into the lake every single day - more than 1.7 million bottles a year. We cannot stand on the sidelines while Indiana tries to turn back the clock on decades of environmental progress."

To underscore the dangers of dumping ammonia in a lake used by millions for recreational boating, swimming and drinking water, Quinn read the ammonia bottle's warning label: "Keep out of reach of children. Avoid contact with eyes or prolonged contact with skin. Do not swallow. Avoid constant inhalation of vapors."

"The message is clear: Ammonia is a toxic, hazardous chemical, and we don't need any more of it in our lake water," Quinn said.

Quinn also called on the trustees of the State of Illinois' five public pension funds to review their holdings of BP stock - investments with a total market value of more than $130 million, according to the funds' 2006 annual reports.

Quinn also urged the pension funds' trustees to let BP know that, as substantial shareholders in the company, they strongly object to the Whiting refinery expansion plans.

In 2005, Quinn targeted a proposed decision by the U.S. E.P.A. to allow cities with outdated wastewater treatment systems to flush "blended sewage" - a mixture of treated and raw sewage - into Lake Michigan. After Quinn launched an on-line petition drive, the U.S. E.P.A. decided against allowing cities to discharge "blended sewage" into the lake.

Quinn, winner of the Alliance of the Great Lakes' 2006 Elected Official Award, also joined in the public opposition to the U.S. Coast Guard's proposal last year to set up live-fire practice zones in the Great Lakes, including Lake Michigan. The Coast Guard's proposal was withdrawn.