BP Whiting Refinery Fact Sheet: Mercury Emissions

As BP moves forward with its modernization project for the Whiting Refinery in Northwest Indiana, protecting the environment while providing an important source of fuel for the Midwest is top of mind. BP's project team has conducted comprehensive technology, engineering and operations reviews to position the refinery to use this important source of crude oil while protecting the environment. As part of the refinery modernization, BP expects to invest more than $1.4 billion in pollution control.

Mercury is a naturally-occurring metal that is found in virtually every corner of the earth and in every living thing and many household products such as sugar, shampoo and fruit juices. The Whiting Refinery discharges trace amounts of mercury in its treated water and air emissions.  Below are facts about these emissions and what the company is doing to minimize them. It is important to note that BP does NOT burn coal at the facility - coal is considered the largest source of mercury emissions - NOR does the company use mercury to produce gasoline.

Air emissions:

• At the Whiting Refinery, emissions of mercury into the air are so small that we've only recently identified a method to reliably measure them. As a result, emissions levels have been calculated using factors published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• Based on these calculations, BP expects no increase in mercury air emissions despite the increase in production of Canadian heavy crude oil.
• BP has taken several steps to decrease air emissions of mercury from the refinery, including permanently shutting down a hazardous waste incinerator at the refinery's water treatment plant and switching to cleaner-burning gas for heating furnaces and boilers at the refinery.

Water outflow:

• The Whiting Refinery modernization project should not increase the level of mercury in the water we discharge.
• The Whiting Refinery's water permit calls for BP -- and anyone else who applies for a new water permit -- to reduce mercury discharges to 1.3 parts per trillion. Indiana regulators have acknowledged that due to the limits of existing technology, all industrial facilities and municipalities that discharge water within the Great Lakes will have difficulty attaining the 1.3 part per trillion mercury limit within the five-year time period of a water discharge permit.
• As part of the modernization project at the refinery, BP is investing about $150 million in a state of the art upgrade to further enhance water treatment capabilities. (The water that BP currently draws from Lake Michigan contains trace amounts of mercury. Some of this trace mercury is returned to the lake in treated water.)
• BP continues to evaluate technologies that would enable us to further reduce mercury emissions.