Gary Works is an extensive steelmaking complex that sits on approximately 3,000 acres along the south shore of Lake Michigan just 15 miles southeast of Chicago. It is known as the number one polluter in the Lake Michigan basin and the third largest throughout all of the Great Lakes. In fact, U.S. Steel reported dumping more than 1.7 million pounds of pollution into the Grand Calumet in 2005, the last year for which figures are available.
Federal regulators sent Indiana environmental officials back to the drawing board to make sure Gary Works, U. S. Steel Corp’s largest manufacturing plant, reduces the amount of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals that flow directly into a Lake Michigan tributary. As it turns out, Gary Works is one of the largest polluters in the Great Lakes basin, which makes the company an extremely important environmental factor.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) blocked Gary Works’ proposal for a new water permit for its massive steel mill. This new permit would scrap, relax or omit the limits on the pollution that the U.S. Steel mill dumps into the Grand Calumet River. This is especially important because the Grand Calumet empties into Lake Michigan transmitting pollutants directly into the lake.
The EPA blocked the permit issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in a letter dated October 1. The letter informed Indiana regulators that the EPA will not allow any new permit for Gary Works until significant pollution problems are remedied. As stated in the Clean Water Act, because the USEPA has authority over state environmental regulators, Indiana’s hands are tied.
The EPA’s letter rebuked the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for giving U.S. Steel five years to limit several extremely toxic and potentially deadly pollutants, including mercury, lead, cyanide, ammonia as well as a known cancer-causing chemical – benzo(a)pyrene.
The EPA also condemned Indiana for failing to impose more rigorous environmental pollution standards that would help clean up the Grand Calumet River. Hoosiers, especially those living around Lake Michigan or near the river itself, know that Grand Calumet is one of the most contaminated waterways in the Great Lakes region.
As written in federal law, states are required to renew water permits every five years in order to meet the Clean Water Act’s goal of limiting and eliminating pollution. However, Indiana has not reissued a water permit for U.S. Steel’s Gary Works since 1994.
Indiana officials now insist that this new proposed permit will do more to protect the environment than the old documents did. While officials are not answering many questions, they have promised that they will not finalize the permit until public concerns regarding Gary Works’ pollution problems are addressed.
In a document previously posted on the Internet, Indiana regulators stated they had removed some of the more stringent pollution limits from the old U.S. Steel permit because they did not believe the mill was that likely to exceed these limits in the future.
Environmental advocates, including the City of Chicago, dispute this logic. They say that having a lack of specific limits only clears the way for U.S. Steel to dump unlimited amounts of dangerous and potentially deadly pollutants, including oil and grease, lead, arsenic, benzene, fluoride and nitrates, directly into the water. This is the same water that will eventually end up in the drinking water system of countless people.
Critics of U.S. Steel’s Gary Works also remember that this mill has frequently has been cited for violating the Clean Water Act. Just one example – As part of a legal settlement with the EPA and United States Justice Department, U.S. Steel is attempting to dredge millions of cubic yards of highly contaminated sediment from the Grand Calumet River because of years of past environmental abuse and irresponsibility.
This latest fight involving a well-known Lake Michigan polluter comes just three months after Indiana regulators gave a BP refinery, in nearby Whiting, permission to significantly increase the amount of pollution it dumps into the lake. This is huge considering Lake Michigan is THE source of drinking water for Chicago and numerous other communities.
As a result of widespread public protest and even threats of legal action, BP later decided to step back and even promised to meet the more stringent pollution limits as stated in its old water permit.
U.S. STEEL Corp.
CHEMICALS RELEASED INTO the Grand Calumet/Lake Michigan – 2005
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| CHEMICALS |
POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS |
POUNDS RELEASED |
| Nitrates | Hemorrhaging of the spleen | 1,700,180 |
| Cyanide | Brain and heart damage, coma and death | 11,000 |
| zinc | Stomach cramps, nausea and vomiting | 10,446 |
| Manganese | Mental and emotional disturbances, motor skills disrupted | 10,186 |
| Ammonia | Lung damage and death | 6,926 |
| Barium | Gastrointestinal disturbances and muscular weakness | 5,400 |
| Phenol | Respiratory irritation, headaches, burning eyes, liver damage, irregular heartbeat and death | 3,348 |
| Lead | Affects almost every organ and body system | 2,462 |
| Nickel | Asthma attacks | 2,200 |
| Chromium | Nasal and stomach irritations, convulsions, kidney and liver damage and death | 2,169 |
That whole area is crappy…. East Chicago through Gary and over to Ogden Dunes, Indiana…. whenever I take I-90/94, you can see the smoke stacks billowing out whatever toxic smoke it is – hold your breath. When I was younger some friends and I went to the Indiana dunes… what a mistake because looking towards the west southwest you could see the smokestakes. I didn’t even go into the water because who knew what was being dumped into the lake and flowing our way. Too bad they ruined that whole area, could have been a great short getaway for many. Nowadays you have to go up to certain parts of the UP of Michigan, Minnesota or Canada to get somewhere that isn’t as toxic as these sites. Thanks for keeping people informed instead of turning a blind eye!
We like your site and have added it to our blog roll. Our blog, My Green Element (www.mygreenelement.com) covers green business and marketing trends. I was hoping we could be added to your blog roll. Also, if you are interested in writing a guest post, please let me know.
Peace,
Stefan
I’ve seen it on tv, and it is crappy. People clean up your mess please! Pffft!
Grew up a few miles from USS on Tennessee St., never saw real sun light until I moved to Florida ! Gary was a nice city once, now it’s a “shit-Hole”..
What I tell people is this I grew up in Gary, Indiana…a place where you say HI and people say WHY? Not such a nice place..but it did teach me streets smarts.
I hated my life there….I now live in sunny San Diego.
I can’t imagine living there .. . my parents are still there..but they are happy to come out and visit the kids that ALL moved away from the soot and smell.
I swear I have black lung disease. I still cough like I was still under the smokestats. All I remember are black skies as a youngster growing up. Oh and the smell…wonderful!!!
I did work in the steel mills as a painter…dousing thinner or gasoline over my head at the end of the day to get the paint out of my hair and face from the spray guns…So much fun!!! DON’T Smoke while doing that!!!
It taught me a great lesson….go do something else..and I did!
I also worked in the Metalurigical department of one of the mills…checking gray steel for “cracks”.
But in the end I had a father in law that worked every day in the mils without missing a day of his life except one or two…and retired. I don’t even remember if he got the gold watch!
Then he died! Months after his retirment. God bless him. In essence he had no real life than the mill. I loved that man! A brilliant guy.
I am so glad to be thousands of miles from that polluted atmosphere where people were only concerned about what the unions can do for them. I see blue skies every day and feel the sun daily.
I do remember my dad saying …smell that on a foul day..that’s the smell of money. He did well…I didn’t!
I am proud of my dad. He was a hard and honest worker and is now retired…and famous!!! Just google Spiro Cappony
We just had different experiences in the mills of Gary Indiana. i am glad he raised us on the money from the mills … I have a great father.
I couldn’t have done it! He did ….
Hey thanks for the great blog, I love this stuff. I don’t usually do much for Earth Day but with everyone going green these days, I thought I’d try to do my part.
I am trying to find easy, simple things I can do to help stop global warming (I don’t plan on buying a hybrid). Has anyone seen that http://www.EarthLab.com is promoting their Earth Day (month) challenge, with the goal to get 1 million people to take their carbon footprint test in April?… I took the test, it was easy and only took me about 2 minutes and I am planning on lowering my score with some of their tips.
I am looking for more easy fun stuff to do. If you know of any other sites worth my time let me know.
You know, I get so disguested when I hear an “environmentalist” or these “green” people put down an area like Gary because it’s crappy and not clean.
The people of Gary didn’t do this. It’s the white-owned companies and their Chicago-living managers that did these horrible things to Gary, Hammond and East Chicago. They came down to Northwest Indiana, built their companies away from Chicago, and polluted the entire area. Now, folks here have to depend on these companies for a living.
As far as I’m concerned, northern Indiana doesn’t have to applogize for being industrial. Some areas of the country can’t just be about golfing, fishing and swimming. Some places of the country have to be about building things and that what’s northwest Indiana is all about.
I think because this area is largely black, most white folks would like to just write it off. But you can’t do that. These are still people.
Intead of putting it down, find ways to improve the situation.
After reading through the article, I feel that I need more information on the topic. Can you share some more resources please?