EPA Sets Hearing Date for Disputed U.S. Steel Pollution Permit
November 19, 2007
ALLIANCE FOR THE GREAT LAKES
http://www.greatlakes.org/news/111107.asp
The U.S. EPA has scheduled a public hearing on Dec. 11 in Gary, Ind., to hear objections to a draft water pollution discharge permit issued to U.S. Steel Corp.'s Gary Works plant.
Scheduled from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., the hearing will be held in Indiana University Northwest's Savannah Auditorium, located at 3400 Broadway Ave.
The EPA is convening the hearing in response to a large number of requests from environmental groups, the public and public officials, who cited objections to the draft permit issued by Indiana's Department of Environmental Management.
If finalized, the permit would allow the Gary Works facility -- the largest fully integrated steel mill in the country -- to discharge into Lake Michigan, the Grand Calumet River and Stockton Pond.
The Alliance and others calling for the hearing voiced concern that, among other things, the permit grants U.S. Steel five more years to comply with federal water quality standards.
In comments submitted to IDEM in October, the Alliance called on state regulators to tighten the Gary Works plant's discharge limits as a means of eliminating pollution to Lake Michigan over time, in keeping with the federal Clean Water Act.
The Alliance also called on the agency to eliminate the so-called five-year pass compliance schedule U.S. Steel proposes for mercury and several other pollutants, and to instead include interim requirements and specific pollution discharge limits. Furthermore, the Alliance urged that the plant be required to make substantial reductions in its discharges of free cyanide oil, grease, and thermal pollution to the Grand Calumet River.
Comments may also be submitted in writing between Nov. 9 and Dec. 28 to:
David Soong
EPA Region 5
NPDES Programs Branch (WN-16J)
77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604.
Comments may also be submitted online to EPA's Web site at www.epa.gov/region5/publiccomment, or faxed to 312-886-0168.
Background Links
Alliance and Partners: Public Hearing on U.S. Steel Permit Needed 10/18/07
Comments of Save the Dunes Council... on Draft NPDES Permit for US Steel Gary Works 9/28/07
Joseph MillerDepartment of Psychology
51 Madeleva
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN