ArcelorMittal USA's three facilities along Lake Michigan are the next ones the
Indiana Department of Environmental Management is targeting for waste water permit renewals, the agency said Tuesday.
The facilities,
ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor East and ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor West, both in East Chicago; and ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, currently are operating on permits extended by the state Department of Environmental Management.
IDEM spokeswoman Amy Hartsock said although ArcelorMittal is next on the agency's list, there is no time frame for permit renewals.
"They're on our list to complete and something we're working on," she said. "We will draft a document and when we believe we have included everything we need to, we'll put it out for public review."
"I haven't heard anything about their renewal," ArcelorMittal spokesman David Allen said Tuesday.
The company and its predecessors -- Ispat Inland, LTV Co., and Bethlehem Steel Corp. -- "have done everything we're suppose to do," he said.
"We go through the renewal process at the end of every term, but then IDEM has to act on them," Allen said. "If they don't, it's tantamount to an administrative extension."
Each permit holder must submit an application for a new permit six months before the old one expires. If a new permit isn't issued by IDEM, the company's permit stands.
When Gov. Mitch Daniels' administration took over in 2005, there were 363 waste water permits due for renewal -- of those there were 67 major permits. Now, there are 11 major permits that need to be reissued, said Bruno Pigott, assistant commissioner for IDEM's Office of Water Quality.
To create the draft permit, IDEM works from the permit application submitted by the company. Then, to update it, IDEM incorporates any production changes made at the facility and any changes in environmental laws made since the old permit was issued, Hartsock said.
At that point, the agency will publish legal notices concerning the draft permit, send notices to those who have requested the information, and, if there is significant interest, schedule a public hearing, she said.
"The best way for people to look for notices is in the legal section of the newspaper in the community where the facility is located," she said. " A copy of the document is placed in the local library and often online as well."
To mitigate potential opposition, Hartsock said the agency will try "to provide people with information on how the permits are being changed, so they can understand what protections the new permits are providing compared to the previous permits."
"For U.S. Steel, the public has asked us to help them compare the draft permit and the one for 1994 and we're working on that now," she said. "We want to improve our communication in the future so people have a better understanding how they're being protected. We want to find a better way in the future to communicate."