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NEWS & LETTERS, July-August 2010
We say: 'Stop the oil!'
Chicago--About 40 people braved the heat wave to gather on July 6 to protest BP's disaster in the Gulf--and at the same time draw the connection to local pollution by BP and all fossil fuel industries.
A prominent slogan, "No oil in our Gulf! No tar sands in our Lake!" called attention to the oil extracted from Canada's tar sands and then piped to a refinery near here in Whiting, Indiana. The refinery has a history of problems, including last year's citation by the EPA for releases of cancer-causing benzene into the air, 16 times greater than the legal limit.
For years environmental groups have been fighting the refinery's planned expansion, which would make it the largest U.S. refiner of tar sands oil. That would intensify its emissions of greenhouse gases as well as benzene and other components of smog linked to an asthma epidemic among children in the area. Indiana's expansion permit would allow BP to greatly increase its dumping of ammonia and toxic metals such as lead and mercury into Lake Michigan, which supplies drinking water to millions.
We also spotlighted the coal-fired power plants that cause health problems in Chicago's heavily Latino Pilsen neighborhood.
The event was organized by the Chicago Committee on the Gulf Crisis, an ad hoc coalition of individuals and organizations coming together locally to move the nation "Beyond Petroleum" (which for BP was just a fake slogan). We affirm that it's time to end the age of fossil fuels and nuclear power, and that workers' lives and environmental issues are closely connected.
--News and Letters Committees participants
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