1,000 to Protest at BP Whiting Refinery Near Chicago Sunday

Massive Rally Outside BP Whiting Refinery Near Chicago

More than 1,000 Join Largest Civil Disobedience in History of Environmental Movement

On Sunday, May 15, more than 1,000 residents from around the Midwest will rally, march, and engage in nonviolent action at BP Whiting Refinery to demand an end to the hazardous fossil fuel infrastructure threatening lives and further destabilizing the climate. Community members will say “enough is enough” to polluted petcoke and other toxic trespass they endure daily as a result of BP Whiting’s tar sands refinery expansion.

May 15 will mark 12 continuous days of unprecedented global mobilization on six continents under the banner Break Free from Fossil Fuels
<https://breakfree2016.org/>, with frontline community members calling for action to keep oil, coal, and gas in the ground, and to accelerate the just transition to renewable energy.

WHO: March & Rally to Break Free from Fossil Fuels-Midwest

WHAT: More than 1,000 Midwest Region residents, including members of more than 70 partner organizations. A full list of participating organizations is available on the action website - midwest.breakfree2016.org/endorsingpartners <http://midwest.breakfree2016.org/endorsingpartners/>.

Speakers and performers will include:

Press Conference

* Andrea Perkins - American Indian Center
* Elizabeth Donoghue - Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment (SAFE)
* Kristin and Marta Frank - East Chicago Environmental Activists
* Martita Torrez Allen - Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke
* Mariah Urueta - Food & Water Watch

Performer
* Tall Paul

Emcees
* Naomi Davis - Blacks in Green President & Founder
* Bryant Williams - Rebuilding Exchange Senior Director; Southeast Environmental Task Force President

Rally Speakers
* Malik Yusef - Five-time Grammy Award winner; Hip Hop Caucus and People’s Climate Music Director of Arts and Culture
* Bill McKibben - 350.org Co-founder and Senior Advisor
* Tara Houska - Honor the Earth National Campaigns Director; Native American Advisor to Bernie Sanders
* Jean Ross - National Nurses United Co-president
* Mark Burrows - Railroad Workers United
* Valerie Jean - Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MICATS)
* Lorrell Kilpatrick - Black Lives Matter-Gary
* Olga Bautista - Southeast Side Coalition to Ban Petcoke
* Claire McClinton - Flint Democracy Defense League

WHEN: Sunday, May 15, Noon Central Time - press conference will begin at 12:15 pm; rally and march begin at 1 pm CT

WHERE: Whiting Lakefront Park, 1798 119th Street, Whiting, Indiana

WHY: BP Whiting Refinery is the hub of the growing web of dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure that companies like Enbridge are working to build across the Midwest. The largest tar sands refinery in the country, BP Whiting, receives dirty crude oil from pipelines like the controversial Line 3 and the Alberta Clipper tar sands pipeline, which the State Department has allowed Enbridge to massively expand without environmental review. The refinery has also created serious public health concerns for Chicago and Northwest Indiana communities. Located next to Chicago's Southeast Side, the refinery creates massive amounts of petcoke – toxic waste associated with refining tar sands – which BP has dumped near local residents for years. Residents are demanding an end to the devastation the fossil fuel infrastructure has caused to the Great Lakes region, protection of their water, air, land, climate, and communities, and strong investment in a just transition away from the fossil fuel industry for workers across the region.