Background

Gary Works, an expansive steel mill located about 15 miles southwest of Chicago in Gary, Indiana is operated by the Pittsburg-based U.S. Steel Works.  The Gary Works facility is one of the region’s largest sources of pollution.

Currently, Gary Works is in the process of renewing its water permits, a process that happens every five years to help meet the Clean Water Act goal of eliminating pollution.  However, ELPC and other environmental groups have challenged these permits because they do not state how and to what degree they will decrease pollution released into Lake Michigan.

The facility dumped more than 1.7 million pounds in 2005 of pollution in Lake Michigan including toxic chemical like mercury, cyanide, and ammonia among others.