A new inspection by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has been positive for U.S. Steel’s Midwest plant in Portage.
The Midwest plant received satisfactory results in most areas, including receiving waters; effluent/discharge; permit; stormwater; facility/site; operation; maintenance; sludge; flow measurement; laboratory; records/reports; and enforcement. The facility received marginal ratings in self-monitoring and effluent limits compliance.
Marginal ratings are just below satisfactory and still considered acceptable.
The facility has a history with chemical spills, as recently as 2019 when the plant shut down due to a hexavalent chromium discharge, according to Post-Tribune archives.
A spokesperson for U.S. Steel said in a Wednesday email that IDEM inspections occur “fairly regularly.”
The U.S. Steel Midwest plant is on an accelerated inspection schedule, said an IDEM spokesperson in an email.
“Since 2024, IDEM has conducted nine wastewater inspections at the U.S. Steel (facility),” the statement said.
IDEM did not say why U.S. Steel is on an accelerated pace and if it is because of past incidents at the Midwest plant.
National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permitted facilities usually receive regular inspections every two years, according to IDEM.
The Clean Water Act prohibits discharging pollutants through a point source into U.S. waters unless a group has an NPDES permit, which can limit discharge, monitoring and reporting requirements, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The permit helps ensure discharge doesn’t hurt water quality or public health.
U.S. Steel’s NPDES permit is valid through Sept. 30, 2026, according to the industrial facility inspection report. The most recent inspection was completed on March 5.
“The latest IDEM inspection shows that U.S. Steel continues to meet our environmental obligations and adhere to the limits set forth in our operating permit,” said a statement from U.S. Steel. “Environmental excellence is a top priority for the dedicated employees at all of our facilities, and we are always working to improve our processes and invest in technologies that will help us meet that goal. We also continue to work collaboratively with IDEM and other agencies to comply with our permit requirements.”
The Portage-based Midwest plant is a steel finishing facility that operates as part of Gary Works, according to U.S. Steel’s website. The plant creates tin mill products and hot-dip galvanized, cold-rolled and electrical lamination steels.
The products are used in automotive, construction, container and electrical industries, according to IDEM’s website.
Receiving waters for the Midwest plant include the Burns Waterway, which the facility had previously released chemicals into, according to Post-Tribune archives. One chemical included hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen that can lead to nasal and sinus cancers, kidney and liver damage, nasal and skin irritation and ulceration, and eye irritation and damage, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
In 2017, a spill at the plant leaked more than 900 pounds of the chemical, leading to closures of beaches in and near the Indiana Dunes National Park. Low levels of a carcinogen were found in Lake Michigan because of a pipe failure at the steel plant, which caused contaminated water to be released to the wrong wastewater treatment plant.
In 2019, the facility was offline for about a week due to the hexavalent chromium discharge. U.S. Steel recorded a spike of .845 pounds per day, according to Post-Tribune archives.
