US Justice Department announced that Cliffs Burns Harbor has agreed to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and other laws, for an August 2019 discharge of ammonia and cyanide-laden wastewater into the East Branch of the Little Calumet River. The settlement agreement requires Cleveland-Cliffs to pay USSD 3 million as a civil penalty and to reimburse the EPA and the State of Indiana for response costs incurred as a result of an August 2019 discharge of wastewater containing ammonia and cyanide into a river that flows into Lake Michigan. A new ammonia treatment system and cyanide treatment requirements will greatly reduce the facility’s water pollution levels. Cleveland-Cliffs is also undertaking substantial measures to improve its wastewater system at its steel manufacturing and finishing facility in Burns Harbor in Indiana. Cleveland-Cliffs will also resolve allegations under EPCRA and CERCLA by implementing a protocol to notify relevant state and local groups about any future spills of cyanide from its Burns Harbor facility.The complaint filed with the settlement alleges that Cleveland-Cliffs exceeded discharge pollution limits for cyanide and ammonia; failed to properly report those cyanide and ammonia releases under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and violated other Clean Water Act and permit terms. The discharge, which led to fish kills in the river, also caused beach closures along the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. CIn August 2019, the facility’s blast furnace closed loop air scrubber water recycle system failed, requiring Cleveland-Cliffs to draw in large volumes of Lake Michigan water and discharge it through the facility outfalls, without being able to recycle the water. Cleveland-Cliffs’ wastewater treatment system is not designed for the treatment and discharge of this volume of water, so the incident resulted in discharges containing high levels of untreated cyanide and ammonia-nitrogen. Following the discharge of untreated water, there was a fish kill in the East Branch of the Little Calumet River.
US Justice Department announced that Cliffs Burns Harbor has agreed to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and other laws, for an August 2019 discharge of ammonia and cyanide-laden wastewater into the East Branch of the Little Calumet River. The settlement agreement requires Cleveland-Cliffs to pay USSD 3 million as a civil penalty and to reimburse the EPA and the State of Indiana for response costs incurred as a result of an August 2019 discharge of wastewater containing ammonia and cyanide into a river that flows into Lake Michigan. A new ammonia treatment system and cyanide treatment requirements will greatly reduce the facility’s water pollution levels. Cleveland-Cliffs is also undertaking substantial measures to improve its wastewater system at its steel manufacturing and finishing facility in Burns Harbor in Indiana. Cleveland-Cliffs will also resolve allegations under EPCRA and CERCLA by implementing a protocol to notify relevant state and local groups about any future spills of cyanide from its Burns Harbor facility.The complaint filed with the settlement alleges that Cleveland-Cliffs exceeded discharge pollution limits for cyanide and ammonia; failed to properly report those cyanide and ammonia releases under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and violated other Clean Water Act and permit terms. The discharge, which led to fish kills in the river, also caused beach closures along the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. CIn August 2019, the facility’s blast furnace closed loop air scrubber water recycle system failed, requiring Cleveland-Cliffs to draw in large volumes of Lake Michigan water and discharge it through the facility outfalls, without being able to recycle the water. Cleveland-Cliffs’ wastewater treatment system is not designed for the treatment and discharge of this volume of water, so the incident resulted in discharges containing high levels of untreated cyanide and ammonia-nitrogen. Following the discharge of untreated water, there was a fish kill in the East Branch of the Little Calumet River.
