Chicago Sues US Steel over Indiana Plant's Spills
CHICAGO (AP) — The city of Chicago is suing U.S. Steel, alleging it violated federal law with discharges of a potentially carcinogenic chemical last year from a northwest Indiana plant.
The federal lawsuit filed Wednesday comes a week after the Surfrider Foundation’s Chicago chapter filed a similar suit against the steelmaker.
Chicago’s complaint alleges U.S. Steel violated the Clean Water Act and its wastewater permit with illegal discharges from its Portage, Indiana, plant into a Lake Michigan tributary about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Chicago.
The suit said those violations occurred during an April 2017 spill of nearly 300 pounds (135 kilograms) of hexavalent chromium, and an October chromium spill. Both spills reached the Burns Waterway, which flows into the lake.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement that U.S. Steel’s alleged actions threaten Lake Michigan — Chicago’s “most precious natural resource.”
U.S. Steel has said it regrets the spills. A message seeking comment on Chicago’s lawsuit was left Wednesday with the Pittsburgh-based company.
Last April’s spill prompted the temporary closure of several beaches in northwest Indiana, while a utility that operates a water treatment plant at nearby Ogden Dunes temporarily stopped drawing water from an intake on the lake as a precaution.
The beaches reopened and the utility resumed drawing water after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found no traces of hexavalent chromium.
The EPA has said that chemical, a toxic byproduct of industrial processes, might be carcinogenic if ingested.
The 2000 film “Erin Brockovich” was based on a utility’s disposal of water laced with hexavalent chromium in unlined ponds near Hinkley, California. That disposal method polluted drinking water wells and resulted in a $333 million settlement.
Related News
From Archive
- Tunnel boring machine ‘Clack-A-Mole’ nears one-third completion in Oregon outfall project
- Texas A&M weighs underground transit plan with Elon Musk's Boring Co. to reduce campus traffic
- Lynchburg, Va., breaks ground on largest-ever Blackwater CSO tunnel project
- Wyo-Ben’s Max Gel, Max Bore HDD system boost drilling efficiency, performance
- Federal court halts permits for 32-mile Tennessee gas pipeline project
- Wisconsin proposes new PFAS drinking water standards to align with federal rules
- Elgin, Ill., joins EPA drinking water initiative to accelerate lead pipe replacement
- Dog River pipeline replacement in Oregon improves water supply with new HDPE pipe
- Leaking wastewater systems named top source of San Diego River contamination, study finds
- New Portable Welding System From Miller
Comments