This is what happens with giving one company an inch, then next one also wants an inch until you have 12 companies giving you 5 feet of toxic waste.
Yes, the great minds at Indiana Department of “Environmental Management” have done it again making choices that affect all the Great Lake States and the largest reservoir of fresh water in the world. This time they are giving US Steel a free pass.
“Experts who have analyzed the mill’s proposed new permit say that at some points where the steel mill discharges waste into the Grand Calumet, Indiana regulators eliminated or failed to include limits on toxic chemicals and metals that have turned the river into one of the most contaminated sites along the Great Lakes.
Specifically, U.S. Steel reports discharging oil and grease, lead, arsenic, benzene, fluoride and nitrates from waste-water pipes at the mill, yet the draft permit fails to limit emissions of these pollutants at all discharge points.
The permit also relaxes the limits on chromium, a heavy metal that builds up in fish over time. In humans, long-term exposure can damage the liver, kidneys and nervous system. The average allowable amount of chromium discharged from one waste-water pipe into the Grand Calumet would increase by 62 percent, to 17,702 pounds a year, and the permit does not require U.S. Steel to curb discharges from other pipes.
For other pollutants, regulators agreed to give U.S. Steel an additional five years to meet federal standards that have been on the books for more than a decade. Mercury, cyanide, ammonia, zinc, copper and a chemical called benzo(a)pyrene fall into that category.”
This is my favorite part, they are not even going to regulate some of the pipes polluting directly into the water supply.
“…no limits are set on several pipes where U.S. Steel reports the pollutants are discharged into the river. Historical dumping of oil and grease is one reason why the Grand Calumet remains one of the region’s most polluted waterways.”
“Critics contend that the lack of more stringent standards for the Gary Works violates the Clean Water Act. The Grand Calumet carries the mill’s pollution into Lake Michigan, the source of drinking water for Chicago and scores of other communities.”
This part is pretty great also… the company said they were cutting pollution so there is no more need to monitor this cancer causing benzene they are dumping.
“In a document posted on the Internet, Indiana regulators wrote that they removed some pollution limits from the old U.S. Steel permit because they concluded the mill wasn’t likely to exceed them in the future.
For instance, the document states that the company’s coke plant is a major source of benzene, a toxic chemical that can damage the immune system and cause cancer. U.S. Steel reported to federal regulators that it released 220 pounds of benzene into the Grand Calumet in 2005.
Yet regulators said they eliminated specific limits for benzene in the new permit after the company provided data showing it “no longer shows reasonable potential to exceed water quality standards.”"
How do nightmares like this even happen today? Do people have any morals, ethics or brains left? Why is the weak promise of “more jobs” a reason to allow dumping of cancer causing chemicals into a supply of drinking water. Why do we even worry about terrorist attacking out drinking water when we have our own business and governments doing it for us?
Sell your soul and the environment for 80 jobs @ simplehiker.com
Indiana giving lake polluter a break @ Chicago Tribune (via Tree Hugger)
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