v>EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Comments sought
Written comments on EPA's
objections to the draft NPDES
permit for U.S. Steel's Gary Works
and comments on the permit in
general will be accepted by mail, e-
mail and fax or can be posted to
Region 5's Web site,
www.epa.gov/region5/publiccomme
nt/, until Dec. 28, 2007. Comments
should be sent to:
David Soong
NPDES Program Branch
EPA Region 5 (mail code WN-16J)
77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604
soong. david@epa.gov
Fax: 312-886-0168
Both written and oral comments will
be accepted at the public hearings.
Public hearings
When: Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007
Where: Savannah Center
Auditorium, Indiana University
Northwest, 3400 Broadway Ave.,
Gary, Ind., (enter from 33'"d Street).
Two identical hearing sessions:
3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
More information
General information and documents
concerning the permit and public
hearings are available at Gary Public
Library, 220 W. Fifth St., online at
www.epa.gov/region5/sites/ussteel,
and at EPA Region 5's Chicago
Office (contact David Soong to
make an appointment).
EPA Lists Objections to
Steel Plant Water Permit
U.S. Steel NPDES Permit
Gary, Indiana	
December 2007
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is objecting to Indiana's draft
wastewater discharge permit for U.S. Steel Corp.'s plant in Gary, Ind.
EPA's objections must be resolved by Indiana Department of
Environmental Management before the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System permit is issued. The Agency is holding a public
hearing on the issue Dec. 11 in Gary, and a public comment period is
running from Nov. 9 through Dec. 28. See the adjacent box for ways you
can participate in the permit consideration process.
U.S. Steel's Gary Works is the largest fully-integrated steel mill in North
America and is able to produce more than 8 million tons of raw steel per
year. Gary Works discharges water used in its operations into both the
Grand Calumet River and Lake Michigan.
NPDES permits
The Clean Water Act requires those responsible for discharges from any
point source into the "waters of the United States" to obtain a NPDES
permit. The permit contains the conditions the applicant must meet in
order to comply with the Clean Water Act to safeguard public health and
the environment. In Indiana, IDEM has the authority to issue NPDES
permits for wastewater discharges within the state. However, EPA may
object to the issuance of a permit when in the Agency's opinion it does not
comply with the requirements of federal laws. EPA objected to several
provisions of Indiana's draft U.S. Steel permit:
•	The draft permit contains five-year compliance schedules for the
achievement of wastewater discharge limits for several pollutants.
It also contains a one-year schedule for installation of temperature
monitoring equipment and a three-year schedule for compliance
with current wastewater temperature limits. The state has not
demonstrated these schedules are appropriate. The Clean Water
Act requires compliance as soon as possible.
•	U.S. Steel's draft permit does not contain wastewater limits for a
number of pollutants that Indiana has determined to have
"reasonable potential" to violate its state water quality standards
•	The draft permit allows increased discharges of certain pollutants
and establishes new limitations for others. It is not clear that these
increases are appropriate under state standards
•	The Clean Water Act requires facilities minimize adverse
environmental effects of cooling water intake structures. This
permit does not contain conditions to ensure this requirement is
met, and the state has not explained why these were not included
•	The state needs to correct discrepancies between the draft permit
and an accompanying document outlining technology-based,
wastewater discharge limits

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Steel mill one of nation's largest
The purpose of the hearings is for environmental
regulators to listen to comments about EPA's
objections to the draft permit. Comments on other
aspects of the draft permit will also be accepted.
Written and oral comments will be accepted after a
brief presentation by EPA officials. Regional
Administrator Mary A. Gade will chair the public
hearing.
EPA has decided to hold these hearing sessions and
take public comments because U.S. Steel Gary Works
is one of the largest steel mills in the country and there
is tremendous public interest in how it affects the Lake
Michigan basin. Indiana issued a public notice on the
draft U.S. Steel permit in July and held public meetings
in August and September.
Requests for a public hearing
EPA received requests for a public hearing from dozens
of concerned citizens and public officials in Indiana
and Illinois including representatives for Chicago
Mayor Richard J. Daley and Illinois Attorney General
Lisa Madigan; Chicago Park District CEO Timothy
Mitchell; U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin and Barack
Obama of Illinois; U.S. Sens. Richard G. Lugar and
Evan Bayh of Indiana; U.S. Reps. Danny Davis, Rahm
Emanuel, Luis Gutierrez, Mark Kirk, Bobby Rush and
Peter Roskam of Illinois; U.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky of
Indiana, U.S. Reps. Fred Upton and Vernon Ehlers of
Michigan; and Cook County (111.) Commissioner Mike
Quigley.
The following 12 environmental and public interest
groups also asked for a hearing: Legal Environmental
Aid Foundation of Indiana Inc., Save the Dunes
Council, Hoosier Environmental Council, National
Resources Defense Council, Indiana Wildlife
Federation, Indiana Division of the Izaak Walton
League of America, Environmental Law and Policy
Center, Sierra Club-Hoosier Chapter, Alliance for the
Great Lakes, League of Women Voters of Northwest
Indiana, People Opposed to Wastewater Without
Enough Review and Environment Illinois.
Next Steps
EPA will review all comments after the public
comment period closes Dec. 28. This process may take
quite some time, depending on the volume and nature
of the comments. EPA will then prepare a document
called a "Responsiveness Summary," which will
respond to all comments and will be posted on the
Region 5 Web site.
At the same time, EPA will tell IDEM whether it plans
to reaffirm, modify or withdraw its objections. That
letter will also be posted on the Region 5 Web site. If
EPA reaffirms or modifies its objections, Indiana will
have 30 days to submit a revised permit that addresses
EPA's objections.
If IDEM does not submit such a revised permit, then
EPA will be responsible for issuing a permit to U.S.
Steel.
In other U.S. Steel developments ...
U.S. Steel's $60 million dredging of the Grand Calumet River was completed in early December. In a 1998
agreement with EPA, the company said it would remove polluted sediment (mud) from a five-mile stretch of
the Grand Cal, which is adjacent to the Gary Works.
More than 815,000 cubic yards of sediment contaminated with heavy metals, various chemicals, PCBs and
other pollutants was removed and disposed of in a 36-acre containment unit on U.S. Steel property. EPA
believes this project will greatly aid the effort to improve the Grand Calumet River, a Great Lakes Area of
Concern. Areas of Concern are high-priority locations on the Great Lakes that the United States and Canada
have designated as having severe environmental problems, mostly due to contaminated sediment.
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