HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — More than 1,000 people attending a state Department of Environmental Management public hearing Friday on a permit for BP's planned $3.8 billion Whiting refinery expansion were told the permit will be granted.

"We've determined that the project meets all state and federal requirements and it can be properly permitted," Dan Murray, assistant commissioner with IDEM's Office of Air Quality, said to widespread applause as the public meeting got under way.

Talking with reporters before the meeting, Murray said the state must issue permits if they meet federal and state regulations.

The crowd appeared to be overwhelmingly in favor of the state of Indiana issuing the air permit, with many of the questions aimed at how long BP's expansion would be delayed if environmentalists succeed in slowing the permit. A woman who got up to speak out against the project was booed loudly and told by one heckler: "Go back to Illinois!"

The states of Illinois and Indiana have been at odds over BP's plan to boost the refinery's capacity to process heavy Canadian crude. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and two of his Illinois colleagues, Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Rahm Emanuel, have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to mount a "comprehensive" review of proposed air and construction permits for BP's refinery.

Last summer, IDEM approved a wastewater permit that allows BP to increase the amount of ammonia it sends into Lake Michigan by 54 percent and its discharges of suspended solids into the lake by 35 percent by 2012.

But that permit ignited weeks of criticism from opponents, including many from Chicago, who said the permit amounted to a reversal of decades-long efforts to reduce pollution in the lake. Environmentalists also said the permit threatened the drinking water supply for Chicago and several other cities in Illinois and Indiana.

In August, BP abandoned its plans to increase the amount of pollution it discharges from the refinery under that permit. Company officials said they would either find a way to stay within the limits set in its previous discharge permit or drop the expansion plans for the refinery about 20 miles southeast of Chicago.

The expansion proposed by BP would triple the refinery's use of heavy crude oil from Canadian tar sands. That oil is thicker and more difficult to process than the bulk of the crude the refinery currently handles.

But according to a "citizen summary" handed out by IDEM at the hearing Friday, BP would reduce pollution by updating its equipment and adding pollution controls.

Many of the speakers in favor of the permit Friday night were BP employees or contractors, spokesmen for trade unions or politicians from nearby cities.

Kim E. Ferraro, executive director of the Legal Environmental Aid Foundation of Indiana, told the crowd that environmentalists speaking at the meeting weren't necessarily against BP's expansion.

"What we seek is for IDEM and BP to be transparent in its permitting process, allow for meaningful and informed public participation and comply in good faith with all Clean Air Act requirements," she said. "In other words, we don't want to prevent IDEM from issuing an air permit to BP. We simply want IDEM to issue a permit with appropriate limits."

Tom Anderson, executive director of the Save the Dunes Council, questioned during the public hearing portion of the meeting Friday why IDEM didn't give environmental groups more time to review the permit, saying a month wasn't enough time to review all the documents.

Before the meeting, Murray said the fact that 100 people had already responded to the permit was proof groups had enough time to go over it.

Murray said the purpose of the meeting and public hearing Friday evening was to allow IDEM officials to explain what is happening with the permit and to accept comment from the public on it. People have until March 24 to submit further comment.

Murray said the fastest the permit could be issued is two to three weeks, but said it could take four to six weeks depending on the complexity of the comments it receives.