January 1, 2025
Chris DellaFranco
VP BP Whiting Refinery
2815 Indianapolis Blvd.
Whiting, IN 46394Dear Mr. DellaFranco,
The gaseous release on Thursday December 26th, 2024 from the BP Whiting Refinery resulted in numerous Hammond resident complaint calls to 911 and directly to Hammond Fire Department to report a strong, offensive odor. Resident safety and resident health were the biggest concern of all complaints received. When the Hammond Fire Department sought out additional information from BP, they were advised that a notice would be put out as soon as their legal team reviewed the verbiage of the notification.
The delay in providing available information to the emergency responders for the City of Hammond is unacceptable. It is understood that not all the information surrounding a release may be immediately available, however in this case, crafting a public release places the Hammond Fire Department – our professional emergency responders – at a distinct disadvantage.
In addition, in an effort to gather information on the release, the Hammond Department of Environmental Management contacted BP shortly after the public release from BP to request the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) and their request was not filled until December 28″ 2024 at 11:04am. The delay in response from BP places the City of Hammond, our residents and our first responders at a complete disadvantage. Without a timely response regarding the types of pollutants, hazardous, or toxic substances that were released into the air, we have no idea what type of personal protection equipment that is needed for our emergency first responders and no information to provide our residents who may have called with serious respiratory or other symptoms directly related to the BP release.
This situation needs to be rectified as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Thomas M. McDermott Jr.
Mayor, City of Hammond