Another Chromium Spill at U.S. Steel

“On Thursday, Oct. 26, we experienced an operating excursion at our water treatment plant located within our Midwest Plant in Portage, Ind., that resulted in an exceedance of our total chrome limits. We immediately shut down the affected portion of the treatment plant and shifted to an alternate operation that allowed us to identify the cause and make the necessary corrections to be within allowable levels. We promptly communicated with IDEM to inform them of the incident as required by our NPDES permit and continue to work to ensure that there is no environmental impact. As the event did not pose any danger to the water supply, human health or the environment, public notification to the National Response Center was not required. Any confidentiality requests were made in later correspondence due to business-sensitive material and have since been waived,” the company said.

The latest spill follows on a similar but more significant incident in April in which a U.S. steel facility released a reported 346 pounds of chromium, including 298 pounds of hexavalent chromium, into the Burns Harbor Waterway adjacent to Lake Michigan.