U.S. Steel Pays $1.2 Million to Settle Lawsuit Over Toxic Spills at Portage Plant

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Pittsburgh-based US Steel Corporation has reached an agreement with the State of Indiana towards settlement of lawsuit filed against the company over alleged chemical spill by one of its facilities into a Lake Michigan tributary last year. As part of the settlement, the company has agreed to pay over $1.2 million in penalties. In addition, US Steel has also agreed to undertake substantial measures to improve its operations and has also promised to ensure non-occurrence of similar incidents at the facility in future.

According to the settlement filed in the US District Court in Hammond, U.S. Steel will pay a civil penalty amounting to $600,000 and an additional $630,000 as reimbursement to several federal agencies towards costs and damages. This includes a reimbursement of more than $250,000 to EPA towards response costs and nearly $250,000 to the National Park Service on account of damages resulting from weeklong closure of beach, said the press release by the Justice Department.

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US Steel announced that it has implemented various corrective measures to prevent toxic spills from occurring again. The steps taken by the company include installing a new wastewater piping system, implementing new spill notification procedures and completing repairs to a containment trench. It noted that the agreement resolves violations from waste water discharge during April and October last year.

As per documents, the company’s Portage, Ind. plant released 56.7 pounds of chromium- a potentially cancer-causing chemical into a Lake Michigan tributary following malfunctioning of wastewater treatment system at the plant in October last year. This is almost double the permitted limit of 30 pounds over 24-hour period. A similar incident was reported in April 2017 too.

The settlement is subject to 30-day public comment period and final court approval.