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Thursday, June 11, 2009
Environment - U.S. Steel Toxic landfill cap gets approval
Andy Grimm reports today in the Gary Post-Tribune:
GARY -- After more than 20 years of delay, a 7-square-mile landfill holding a concrete-hard mixture of acid, toxic sludge and mill slag may soon be sealed over.State Department of Environmental Management officials outnumbered concerned residents at a public hearing Wednesday at the Gary Public Library's main branch. The 90-minute session with IDEM and U.S. Steel officials was one of the final steps to closing Hazardous Waste Disposal Unit No. 5, a landfill at the west end of the Gary Works complex. * * *
For 30 years, oily waste and spent acids from the mammoth mill were mixed with slag and dumped into Unit No. 5, until the EPA demanded the steelmaker close the site or get a permit in the mid-1980s. As U.S. Steel lobbied to cover the 7.8-acre site, then to join the closure with the shutdown of other hazardous sites inside the Gary Works property, the closure languished, [Ruth Jean, IDEM project manager] said. * * *
The landfill's location on a fairly remote part of the site within the fenced borders Gary Works means it poses little threat of human contact, and the waste won't have to be moved to begin closing the site.
The $2.5 million project could begin relatively soon -- just a year or so, Jean said -- once plans are approved. The deadline for public comments was extended 30 days at the meeting to allow Gary environmental officials to review the 260-plus page closure plan.
Kay Nelson, director of environmental affairs for the Northwest Indiana Forum, said the current plan is a marked improvement over the early 1990s versions that called for simply covering the site with tons of slag.
The new plans that call for a leak-proof liner and 30 years of monitoring groundwater. The site, already inside the U.S. Steel fence line, will be fenced off again to keep humans and animals off the former landfill.
"This is a best bet. It's very conservative," Nelson said. "It only took 20 years or so to get to this point."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 11, 2009 08:14 AM
Posted to Environment