BP Whiting refinery news: Indiana Department of Environmental Management meeting on oil refinery outage abruptly canceled [Video]

WHITING, Ind. (WLS) — There was anger and confusion Thursday night after a meeting about the BP refinery in Whiting was abruptly canceled by the school district.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management was set to hear concerns about the facility.

However, when the community arrived to East Chicago Central High School, the doors were closed.

“We came here with the intention of holding a public meeting that included with members of the media,” Communications Director of Indiana Dept. Of Environmental Management Allen Carter said. “The school made the decision that they were uncomfortable with that, and decided that they wanted to terminate the meeting.”

Last Thursday, a power outage prompted flaring from smokestacks. The extra flaring process is done to burn off excess product during a power outage, BP said. However the flares caused odors that spread into the Chicago area.

BP maintains there has been no health or environmental impact.

“Our team is learning from our issues and embedding changes …