Yet another consent decree is signed by an Indiana steel manufacturer over Lake Michigan pollution. Cleveland Cliffs, owner of the Burns Harbor steel mill, enters into a deal t0 settle charges over an August 2019 discharge of cyanide and ammonia into the Burns Waterway that killed thousands of fish and forced National Park Service closure of key beaches at Indiana Dunes National Park (when the mill was owned by ArcelorMittal). The agreement, the result of a citizen lawsuit (by the Environmental Law & Policy Center and Hoosier Environmental Council) under the Clean Water Act, will see $3 million in civil penalties split between the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 127 acres of woodlands and former farm land effectively donated to the Indiana Dunes National Park; and changes at the plant. Cleveland Cliffs will upgrade the blast furnace wastewater recycling system that failed so as to prevent future cyanide and ammonia spills, increase water monitoring, and improve public notification protocols so that delays in communications during the 2019 incident will not be repeated.
