Indiana steel mill to pay $248,000 for Clean Air Act violations

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement with Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor LLC of Burns Harbor, Indiana, for alleged Clean Air Act violations that occurred while the facility was operating as ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor LLC. Under the terms of the settlement, the company will implement more pollution controls and pay penalties of $248,396.

During the unannounced inspections, the EPA found that the company allegedly emitted excessive amounts of particulate matter and hazardous air pollutants from its core workshop for the oxygen furnace used to create steel. The alleged violations occurred during the process of charging the furnace with molten iron and when the molten material overflowed the furnaces.

The settlement will require Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor to implement new process controls to ensure the furnaces are slowly loaded and to ensure the pollution control system operates at an acceptably high rate during furnace operation.

The agreement also requires the company to react to problems before spills occur and to keep the pots of liquid metal under the hoods of pollution control devices. The facility will be required to increase monitoring of its core oxygen furnace shop, report its activities to EPA in more detail, install a video camera to record shop emissions, and follow an optimization plan that better specifies shop operation.

This large steel mill sits on the southernmost shore of Lake Michigan, just west of Indiana Dunes National Park. The settlement will reduce emissions of hazardous air pollutants, improving air quality in the national park and nearby communities.

Source: EPA