One of the biggest polluters of Lake Michigan agreed Monday to pay $3 million in fines after a previous owner dumped a plume of concentrated ammonia and cyanide into a northwest Indiana tributary and then failed to warn neighbors until thousands of dead fish floated past a marina days later.
A legal settlement filed in U.S. District Court in Hammond requires Cleveland Cliffs to prevent future violations of federal and state environmental laws by overhauling how pollution is treated and disposed of at its Burns Harbor steel mill. The company also agreed in writing to promptly inform nearby communities and Indiana Dunes National Park if the plant’s operators exceed limits on cyanide released into the East Branch of the Little Calumet River.
The August 2019 fish kill is another chapter in a long history of pollution problems at the sprawling Burns Harbor complex. Yet the administrations of President Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb initially refused to crack down on the steel mill’s former owner, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal.
