Indiana Regulators at it Again

As if the recent BP issues weren't enough, the Chicago Tribune is now reporting on another game of permit wrangling between the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Steel Corporation.

According to the article, Indiana regulators are reviewing a proposed change to the permit for U.S. Steel's Gary Works mill in Gary, Indiana. In contrast to the BP situation (where BP was specifially requesting permission to increase dumping), U.S. Steel officials maintain that the new proposal will not allow for an increase in dumping of pollutants into the Grand Calument River, which empties into Lake Michigan. Currently, the Gary Works (15 miles SE of Chicago) is one of the largest water polluters in the area, producing 1.7 million pounds of oil, grease, metals and chemicals in 2005 (though that is a significant decrease from the 3.2 million pounds recorded in 2000).

U.S. Steel reports discharging oil, grease, lead, arsenic, benzene, fluoride and nitrates from the mill. The proposed permit failed to include limits on emissions at all discharge points. Additionally, the limit on chromium has been decreased. The average allowable amount of chromium dumped in the Grand Calumet would increase 62% (up to 17,702 pounds). Regulators also eliminated specific limits for benzene (chemical that causes immune system damage and cancer), despite a U.S. Steel report of dumping 220 pounds of benzene in 2005. At some discharge points, U.S. Steel is only required to report how much benzene and other pollutants were released in the river.

The permit also gives the company an additional five years to meet federal requirements on other pollutants - federal standards that have been in existence for more than a decade. Under federal law, states are required to renew water permits every five years per the Clean Water Act. The Gary Works permit has not been reissued since 1994 and is one of 10 polluters in Indiana operating under expired permits (including the BP plant in Whiting).

As you would expect, the state government and the big corporation are entrenched. U.S. Steel maintains that they are well within safe levels of discharge and are refusing to argue this permit issue in public. The Indiana regulators are pleased that everything is in order, offering a scale-tipping and complex document for perusal by the public. Despite the apparent availability of information, the general public seems at a loss to determine exactly what is being done and why. There is only the certainty that they've been bitten in the ass before and are living beside one of the most polluted sites in the area while the modern day robber barons count their tolls.