Plugging the Pipeline

IBD has an editorial on why energy costs are going up and who is behind the increases.

Anyone who's not sure why gasoline prices are so high has the opportunity to see a real-time reason being played out in public as an environmental group sues over the expansion of a refinery.

The Natural Resources Defense Council is asking a federal judge to stop construction of BP's planned $3.8 billion expansion — not a new facility — of its Whiting refinery in northwest Indiana. The group claims BP needs a more restrictive air permit from the state because the refinery would discharge far more pollution than what it's been approved for.

In addition to shutting down construction, the NRDC wants BP fined $32,500 a day for each day it has been under construction without the more restrictive permit.

Read the rest here.