These bastards have no shame.  There is no end to their greed, all at the expense of our environment.

BP Gulf Oil Spill No Barrier to $3.8 Billion Refinery Expansion

By Joe Carroll

June 2 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc’s $3.8 billion expansion of the largest refinery in the U.S. Midwest won’t be delayed by criminal and regulatory probes into the company’s role in the largest oil spill in the country’s history.

BP is upgrading a 119-year-old refinery in Whiting, Indiana, on the southern shore of Lake Michigan to process more heavy crude from Canada’s oil sands, [tar sands]  according to the London- based company’s website. The expansion will enable the plant to boost daily gasoline production by 1.7 million gallons, which at current retail prices would be worth $1.69 billion a year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in November ordered the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to review construction and operating permits issued for the expansion in 2008.

The review, which hasn’t interrupted work on the project, isn’t taking into consideration the April 20 explosion at a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 workers and spewed millions of gallons of crude into the sea, said Rob Elstro, a spokesman for the state environmental agency.

“The Whiting permits are being evaluated independently of the spill,” Elstro said today in a telephone interview from Indianapolis. “This preceded the spill.”

Read more.

From BP’s website, a peek into the minds of some of the most greedy, destructive  people on earth:

“Why is BP developing the Canadian oil sands?

BP has a clear strategy to invest to grow exploration and production profitably through a portfolio of leadership positions in the world’s most prolific hydrocarbon basins. Canada’s oil sands more than qualify, being second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of proven reserves. BP creates value through the application of technology and capability to drive performance and operating efficiency. Also, through BP’s Midwest US refineries there is a distinctive opportunity to create a balanced portfolio of upstream production and downstream conversion, which will allow BP to participate in the margin across the whole value chain.”

In other words, they want their dirty, greedy fingers into every possible money-making aspect of the Canadian tar sands.