“Beware the braggart for thy comeuppance never sleeps” is how they might have said it in the scriptures if they had had a blog back then. But they didn’t. So I made that one up (further evidence that you should not believe everything you read especially in blogs especially about controversial subjects as you will see below).
The braggart on my mind is BP and their comeuppance is in the form of bad press that I’m sure kept a lot of BP execs awake from Chicago to London. The issue is BP’s desire to dump ammonia into Lake Michigan and the permit they obtained from the state of Indiana. BP, the active promoter of their efforts to move beyond petroleum and help make the world a little greener. Here’s a bit about the story from this week’s AdAge:
The move, which allows BP to dump 54% more ammonia and 35% more
suspended solids into the lake, enraged officials in the Windy City
and raised the specter of consumer boycotts of BP, which has its
U.S. base in Chicago.
Sounds bad, doesn’t it? Well maybe yes, maybe no. A bunch of comments on a Chicago Tribune blog note that BP played by the rules, various interests groups are fanning the flames for personal gain and that this is really a tempest in a teapot since there are far worse polluters than BP. Hmm. Lots of positive comments–how did that happen? Turns out BP paid bloggers to make positive statements as part of an aggressive regional marketing campaign to try to neutralize the issue.
Environmental blogs, on the other hand, went to town simply asking BP to “live up to its advertising.” The EPA eventually got involved offering BP seven ways it could help clean up Lake Michigan including:
1. Finance projects that reduce pollution from other companies
that discharge into the Grand Calumet River or Lake Michigan.
2. Divert all or some of the refinery’s wastewater to nearly
municipal treatment plants. The Hammond Sanitary District,
East Chicago Sanitary District and Gary Sanitary District are
options.
3. Pay for sewer upgrades in neighboring towns to keep sewage and
storm water out of Lake Michigan.
4. Set aside money to filter pollution that seeps into the lake.
Projects could include wetlands, shoreline restoration or
storm-water retention ponds…
That’s a lot of options. So many in fact that BP just announced a few hours ago that it wasn’t going to exercise its option to take a dump in the lake after all:
BP says
it will not invoke provisions of a new permit that allows it to
release significantly more ammonia and suspended solids into Lake
Michigan, The Chicago Tribune reports.
The move is a response to criticism
from politicians and the public. BP said it would abide by more
stringent limits in its previous permit as the company moves forward
with a $3.8 billion expansion of its Whiting, Ind., refinery.
Ironically, BP really had no choice. They had to back down or their truly innovative effort to lead the petroleum industry into greener pastures was at significant risk. As they say across the pond, “in for a pence, in for a pound.” If you brag about being green you better be green. If not, the green meanies will find you out and mercilessly hold you over the barrel until you turn green one way or another.