SOUDER'S SELLOUT - NUMBERS EVEN HIGHER IN OPPOSITION TO DUMPING IN LAKE MICHIGAN

Okay - I couldn't help myself after finding out the vote was even more lopsided than originally reported. It was not 387-26; it was 399-24 according to an article by Slyvia Smith over at JG. So here is the "official" news release with the Representative's out-of-touch musings:

Souder Votes for Energy Independence

Opposes Democrats' Stunt Targeting Hoosier Refinery

July 25, 2007

U.S. Rep. Mark Souder voted today to lower the cost of gasoline and reduce America’s reliance on Middle East oil by voting against H.Con.Res. 187, a resolution introduced by the House Democrat Caucus chairman that would express Congress’ disapproval of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s (IDEM’s) issuance of a permit relating to BP’s Whiting refinery. Despite Souder’s objection, the Democrat-controlled House passed the non-binding resolution by an overwhelming majority.

“We hear a lot of talk about energy independence and the need for lower gas costs, and yet the Democrat leadership has decided to target Indiana’s refinery in Whiting,” Souder said. “The expansion of this refinery will help us import more Canadian crude oil, which reduces our reliance on Middle East oil, and it will increase refinery capacity by 15 percent, which will lower the price of gas at the pumps.”

“BP is investing more than $3 billion in our state, and Democrats are targeting it—ostensibly for environmental reasons—despite the fact that the plant will still fall within federal pollution guidelines,” Souder added. “This appears to be a sham, and I’m frankly disappointed that the House passed the bill by such a wide margin.”

Last year, BP America Inc. announced that it will invest $3.5 billion in its Whiting, Indiana, refinery to reconfigure its operations to handle Canadian heavy crude oil processing. BP’s investment will create up to 80 new permanent full-time jobs and 2,500 jobs during the three-year construction phase.

By reconfiguring the refinery so as to handle Canadian heavy crude, the Whiting facility has the potential to increase its production of motor fuels by about 15 percent (resulting in about 1.7 million additional gallons of gasoline and diesel per day). Because refining Canadian crude produces more ammonia, BP was issued a new permit by IDEM relating to discharge from its wastewater treatment plant. The discharge falls within federal and state environmental safeguards.

The current lack of refining capacity in the United States is tied directly to the high price of gas.

Every time I read this misguided attempt at blaming Democrats, I don't know whether to get angry or to laugh a little harder. Souder calls the Resolution a "stunt" by Democrats. I bet he was shocked when dozens and dozens of his Republican colleagues jumped ship and sided with the Democratic "stunt."

Lake Michigan at Sunset

Below is the actual vote before correction. This shows the vote at the original numbers of 387-26. Democrats are in regular font; Republicans are in italics. Yes siree - what a stunt. The sad thing though is that all of Indiana's Republican representatives - Buyer, Pence, Burton, and Souder - voted to oppose the Resolution. All of Indiana's Democratic representatives voted to support the Resolution.

Of course, none of the four Republican representatives from Indiana has districts which border Lake Michigan and are impacted by its waters. But neither do three of the five Democratic representatives; only two - Pete Visclosky of the 1st district and Joe Donnelly of the 2nd district - have areas impacted by Lake Michigan. The difference is that the four Indiana Republican representatives failed to protect their own state's environment, while the five Democratic representatives recognized the environmental dangers of increasing toxic dumping in Lake Michigan as well as the dangers to the shores and environment of our sister states.

---- AYES 387 ---

Ackerman Aderholt Akin Alexander Allen Altmire Andrews Arcuri Baca Bachmann Bachus Baird Baker Baldwin Barrett (SC) Barrow Bartlett (MD) Bean Becerra Berkley Berman Berry Biggert Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Blumenauer Bonner Bono Boozman Boren Boswell Boucher Boustany Boyd (FL) Boyda (KS) Brady (PA) Braley (IA) Brown (SC) Brown, Corrine Buchanan Burgess Butterfield Calvert Camp (MI) Campbell (CA) Capito Capps Capuano Cardoza Carnahan Carney Carter Castle Castor Chabot Chandler Clay Cleaver Clyburn Coble Cohen Cole (OK) Conyers Cooper Costa Costello Courtney Cramer Crenshaw Crowley Cuellar Cummings Davis (AL) Davis (CA) Davis (IL) Davis (KY) Davis, David Davis, Tom Deal (GA) DeFazio DeGette Delahunt DeLauro Dent Dicks Dingell Doggett Donnelly Doolittle Doyle Drake Dreier Duncan Edwards Ehlers Ellison Ellsworth Emanuel Emerson Engel English (PA) Eshoo Etheridge Everett Fallin Farr Fattah Feeney Ferguson Filner Forbes Fortenberry Fossella Frank (MA) Frelinghuysen Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Giffords Gilchrest Gillibrand Gillmor Gingrey Gonzalez Goode Goodlatte Gordon

Granger Graves Green, Al Green, Gene Grijalva Gutierrez Hall (NY) Hall (TX) Hare Harman Hastert Hastings (FL) Hastings (WA) Hayes Heller Herger Herseth Sandlin Higgins Hill Hinchey Hinojosa Hirono Hodes Hoekstra Holden Holt Honda Hooley Hoyer Hulshof Hunter Inglis (SC) Inslee Israel Issa Jackson (IL) Jackson-Lee (TX) Jefferson Jindal Johnson (GA) Johnson (IL) Johnson, E. B. Johnson, Sam Jones (NC) Jones (OH) Jordan Kagen Kanjorski Kaptur Keller Kennedy Kildee Kilpatrick Kind King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kirk Klein (FL) Kline (MN) Knollenberg Kucinich Kuhl (NY) Lampson Langevin Lantos Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Latham LaTourette Lee Levin Lewis (CA) Lewis (GA) Lewis (KY) Linder Lipinski LoBiondo Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe Lowey Lucas Lynch Mack Mahoney (FL) Maloney (NY) Manzullo Markey Matheson Matsui McCarthy (CA) McCarthy (NY) McCaul (TX) McCollum (MN) McCotter McCrery McDermott McGovern McHenry McHugh McIntyre McKeon McMorris Rodgers McNerney McNulty Meek (FL) Meeks (NY) Melancon Mica Michaud Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller (NC) Miller, George Mitchell Mollohan Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (KS) Moran (VA) Murphy (CT) Murphy, Patrick Murphy, Tim Murtha Musgrave Myrick Nadler Napolitano Neal (MA)

Neugebauer Nunes Oberstar Obey Olver Ortiz Pallone Pascrell Pastor Paul Payne Pearce Perlmutter Peterson (MN) Petri Pickering Pitts Platts Pomeroy Porter Price (GA) Price (NC) Pryce (OH) Putnam Radanovich Rahall Ramstad Rangel Regula Rehberg Reichert Renzi Reyes Reynolds Rodriguez Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Ross Rothman Roybal-Allard Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Ryan (WI) Salazar Sánchez, Linda T. Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Saxton Schakowsky Schiff Schmidt Schwartz Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Serrano Sessions Sestak Shays Shea-Porter Sherman Shimkus Shuler Shuster Sires Skelton Slaughter Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Smith (WA) Snyder Solis Space Spratt Stark Stearns Stupak Sullivan Sutton Tancredo Tanner Tauscher Taylor Terry Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Tierney Towns Turner Udall (CO) Udall (NM) Upton Van Hollen Velázquez Visclosky Walberg Walden (OR) Walsh (NY) Walz (MN) Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Watt Waxman Weiner Welch (VT) Weldon (FL) Weller Westmoreland Wexler Whitfield Wicker Wilson (NM) Wilson (OH) Wilson (SC) Wolf Woolsey Wu Wynn Yarmuth Young (FL)

---- NAYS 26 ---

Barton (TX) Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blunt Boehner Brady (TX) Burton (IN) Buyer Cannon

Cantor Conaway Culberson Flake Foxx Franks (AZ) Hensarling Lamborn Lungren, Daniel E.

Marchant Miller, Gary Pence Poe Royce Shadegg Simpson Souder

---- ANSWERED “PRESENT” 2 ---

Gohmert

Sali

---- NOT VOTING 16 ---

Abercrombie Brown-Waite, Ginny Carson Clarke Cubin Davis, Jo Ann

Davis, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Hobson LaHood Marshall

Peterson (PA) Sensenbrenner Wamp Young (AK)

As can be seen from the picture below, Lake Michigan is the only one of of the five Great Lakes to lie entirely within the boundaries of the United States.

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING - SOUDER'S SELLOUT

The House of Representatives voted 387-26 Wednesday in favor of a resolution condemning the state of Indiana’s permit to allow British Petroleum to increase its daily dumping of ammonia and mercury into Lake Michigan. The Resolution was triggered by last September's joyful announcement from Governor Mitch Daniels and BP executives that the company - which touts its distinct British heritage as "making it as much a part of the UK landscape as football, tea drinking and the Royal Family" - planned to reconfigure its Whiting, Indiana, refinery to handle Canadian heavy crude oil processing. The company’s $3 billion investment is anticipated to create up to 80 new permanent full-time jobs and 2,500 construction jobs during the three-year construction phase.

The state says this is the largest capital investment it has ever had. Once the project is completed in 2011, the refinery will be able to supply motor fuel to about 6 million automobiles. Of course, in order to get BP to invest in its Whiting Foundry, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) offered incentives to assist in the company’s decision to expand its operations at the Whiting facility. The IEDC offered incentives including up to $450,000 in training grants and approximately $1.2 million in tax credits based on job creation and capital investment.

Additionally, the Indiana Department of Transportation and Indiana Department of Workforce Development will provide assistance in the form of infrastructure improvements and worker training. But of course, in expanding its current capacity, it also has to increase its dumping of toxic and hazardous materials straight into Lake Michigan.

BP - already one of the largest polluters along the Great Lakes - received permission from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to be exempt from environmental laws that cap the amount of toxins discharged into the lake. The refinery's discharges, which are expected to include 54 percent more ammonia and 35 percent more sludge daily, will remain within federal and state pollution water standards. While BP quibbles as to the characterization of its discharge as "sludge", the total suspended solids (TSS) as well as the ammonia it intends to discharge into Lake Michigan can have a disastrous impact by blocking light from reaching submerged vegetation, thus setting into motion a process that, ultimately, results in aquatic destruction and fish kills.

And, no surprise, Souder was one of the 26 to vote against the Resolution - imagine that! Representative Souder is astute at spinning his losing position. Here is a short snippet from his news release:

"U.S. Rep. Mark Souder voted today to lower the cost of gasoline and reduce America’s reliance on Middle East oil by voting against H.Con.Res. 187, a resolution introduced by the House Democrat Caucus chairman that would express Congress’ disapproval of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s (IDEM’s) issuance of a permit relating to BP’s Whiting refinery. Despite Souder’s objection, the Democrat-controlled House passed the non-binding resolution by an overwhelming majority. "

Wow! What a spin! And what a slap in the face to his own home state! Souder's news release shows a complete disregard for the environment of Lake Michigan and environmental issues in general. While Souder spins the situation to try to "pin the tail on the donkey" and blame the Democrats, he totally ignores the fact that the vote was 387 for the Resolution and 26, I say 26, against the Resolution. Looks to me like an awful lot of Republicans joined the Democrats to vote for the Resolution; yet, conveniently, Souder doesn't even put the vote tally in his press release.

Souder has decided that Americans need the increased oil and gas output more than they need to protect the largest fresh-water lake in the United States. He talks on the one hand about decreasing our reliance on oil, yet on the other hand he supports expansion of the Whiting Refinery. The difference is that the Whiting Refinery will be processing Canadian oil rather than Middle Eastern oil. And that makes it acceptable in his mind.