U.S. Steel shut down parts of its Midwest Plant in Portage after a hexavalent chromium spike Wednesday, the company said in a release.The steelmaker said a spike above its .51 pounds per day permit limit occurred at an internal outfall around 4:50 p.m. Another test fell below the permit limit. However the daily average still was “slightly" above its permit limit.
It was not immediately clear whether waterways outside the plant were affected. A company spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.The Indiana Department of Environmental Management and local stakeholders were informed, the company said in a statement.“Upon receiving the lab results, we immediately shut down multiple parts of the facility. Those parts, the chrome treatment plant, tin line and chrome lines will remain shut down as our investigation continues,” spokeswoman Amanda Malkowski said.
“An investigation into this matter is ongoing. We are committed to working with local officials and to communicating with the public on this matter. Safety and environmental performance remains our top priorities,” she said.An IDEM spokesperson was not immediately available for comment late Wednesday.
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Skull trauma of Chesterton bartender, possible link to lost murder weapon examined during bouncer’s murder trial “While US Steel’s reporting on this incident appears consistent with its monitoring and reporting requirements, it further demonstrates the pressing need for tighter maintenance at the (Portage) facility," Save the Dunes Executive Director Natalie Johnson said in a statement. "These events cannot continue to impact our National Park.”
State records show the company’s Midwest Plant had violated chromium limits in its water pollution permit at least four times since 2013.
In 2017, a spill at the plant leaked 902 pounds of hexavalent chromium, a highly toxic form of the metal, into Burns Waterway, a Lake Michigan tributary, forcing closures of beaches in and around the Indiana Dunes National Park. Low levels of a carcinogen were found in Lake Michigan due to a pipe failure at the steel plant that caused the contaminated water to be released into the wrong wastewater treatment plant.
Another Northwest Indiana steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, acknowledged that in August an equipment failure at its sprawling Burns Harbor mill released a plume of concentrated cyanide and ammonia into a ditch that drains into the East Branch of the Little Calumet River. Company and state officials failed to notify the public of the spill until four days later, after thousands of dead fish began floating near a Lake Michigan marina.
Source : http://www.chicagotribune.com