Two years after ArcelorMittal, a steelmaker, released cyanide into a Northwest Indiana River, killing nearly 3,000 fish and shutting down public beaches on Lake Michigan, the company is finally being forced to pay.
Cleveland-Cliffs acquired ArcelorMittalIn 2020, the settlement that was announced Monday to resolve a lawsuit brought by environmental groups will require $3 million. The consent decreeThis was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. These organizations state that this “should serve to be a warning tale for other potential polluters.”
Burns Harbor, North America’s largest steel mill, was built in 2019: Sued in Federal CourtFor allegedly It is a violation of its permit more than 100 timeSince 2015. One of those violations is the August 2019 poisoning that claimed thousands of fish lives. Beyond the actual spill, the steel mill didn’t notify environmental officials about the release of cyanide at the site. 25 times the allowed level.
The Environmental Law and Policy Center was one of two environmental groups that brought the suit. In a statement, they stated that the consent decree shows that corporations can be held accountable for polluting the waterways of Northwest Indiana.
The suit was brought to you by the ELPC in collaboration with the Hoosier Ecological Council. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Indiana Department of Environmental Management and other parties participated in the negotiations and approved the settlement.
In an email statement to IndyStar, Cleveland-Cliffs stated that environmental stewardship was one of its core values and an integral part of the company’s business strategy.
The statement stated that the company “recognizes” that steelmaking must be done responsibly to minimize environmental impacts.
According to Cleveland-Cliffs, the Burns Harbor steel and mining company discharges its water into Lake Michigan’s Little Calumet River.
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According to the company, it is looking forward to working with the federal and state governments as well as citizens groups in implementing the requirements of this settlement.
The $3 million civil penalty is not the only thing that the settlement requires. This includes significant upgrades to prevent future cyanide violations at the facility. The facility has the ability to produce 5,000,000 tonnes of raw steel each year. The agreement includes improved notification procedures in case of a spillage and a transfer of Cleveland Cliffs property that is adjacent to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, which will be placed in a land trust.
The Hoosier Environment Council expressed its delight at the terms of the agreement. Jesse Kharbanda, executive director, stated that the group is “very optimistic that it will not only protect Lake Michigan’s extraordinary ecological treasure from another toxic industrial spill but also elevate environmental protection in Northwest Indiana, which has many communities that have suffered from environmental injustice for far too much.”
The multi-million-dollar civil penalty will be split between Indiana and the U.S. Treasury.
Howard Learner is ELPC’s executive Director. In an Op-ed to IndyStarToo often, toxic chemical spillages by companies are the cause of government agencies refusing to allow citizen suits to proceed and agreeing to weak settlements and insufficient fines.
He refers to April 2017, when the U.S. Steel Corporation spilled Hexavalent ChromiumIn a Portage waterway that flows into Lake Michigan Learner stated that after an environmental group and the City of Chicago had filed a notice of intent, the EPA, IDEM and other legal representatives overtook those efforts with their own suits that stalled citizen suits.
The government agencies reached an agreement with U.S. Steel to repair the equipment and pay $600,000 in civil penalties.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Surfrider Foundation CEO Chad Nelsen wrote an article in October 2019 letterIndiana was not able to monitor the 2017 U.S. Steel hexavalent chromemium spillage and the ArcelorMittal spillage.
The State of Indiana issues these permits and is supposed oversee compliance. U.S. EPA should oversee Indiana. However, neither is adequately regulating permittees to protect Lake Michigan and its beaches. They wrote to the U.S. Department of Justices Environmental and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and IDEM.
The 2019 cyanide leak at the Burns Harbor facility was also reported. Equipment failures can lead to serious injuries.An error occurred at the steel mill’s blast furnace pump station on Aug. 4. It likely caused a spike of ammonia and nitrogen at levels almost twice the permitted limit.
On Aug. 11, the blast furnace failed, flooding the pump station with water. This flooded the pump station and sent millions of gallons cyanide-laden wastewater to a plant that was not equipped for the treatment of cyanide. This caused the river and Lake Michigan to be flooded with cyanide and ammonianitrogen.
The company did not notify downstream users of the toxic pollutant release and took no immediate steps to mitigate its adverse effects. According to IDEM, one of the steelmaker’s environmental experts suggested that other companies could be to blame. However, there was no evidence to support this theory.
Public beaches along Lake Michigan were also closed, including Indiana Dunes National Park. Also, a local intake for drinking water was shut down.
ArcelorMittal was only able to report the fish death on Aug. 15 after citizens began to report it.
IDEM conducted an investigation and released a statement. Report 200 pagesThe October 2019 report detailed its findings. It stated that the plant discharged cyanide at one point at 25 times the allowed limit, but ArcelorMittal failed to inform authorities. According to the report seven violations were committed by the plant during the spillage.
Sarah Bowman, IndyStar reporter, can be reached at 317-444-6129. [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter Facebook: @IndyStarSarah. Connect with IndyStars’ environmental reporters:Join Facebook: The Scrub.
The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust generously supports IndyStar’s environmental reporting projects.