Canadian Crude to Fuel Indiana Refinery

Good news, Indiana approving an expansion of BP's Whiting refinery, which will bring jobs and should eventually ease prices and forestall shortages, especially in Chicago. Crain's:

But Indiana Department of Environmental Management calculations are that the refinery expansion will result in improved air quality and that the refinery's emissions will meet all state and federal clean air laws, said Dan Murray, an IDEM assistant commissioner.

BP spokeswoman Valerie Corr said company officials were reviewing the state permit but did not know of any immediate objections to conditions included by regulators.

Some site work was to begin immediately, with completion expected in up to four years, Corr said.

BP has said the expanded refinery would be the nation's top processor of heavy high-sulfur Canadian crude oil, boosting its annual production of gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel by 15 percent to about 4.7 billion gallons annually. Some 1,700 people work at the 119-year-old refinery.

Canadian crude is closer, disruptions are rare, and it gives us independence from the Saudis. It looks like our friends the Saudis have bought latte liberal Beverly Hills Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman, the eco-poseur, who apparently doesn't care about the cost of transporting that crude across the sea and the emissions that makes.

UPDATE: Good editorial on Exxon in the WSJ.