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Monday, August 18, 2008

Environment - "U.S. Steel ready to transfer acid sludge"

Gitte Laasby of the Gary Post-Tribune reports today about the potential end of an era at the Gary U.S. Steel plant. Some quotes from the long story:

For nearly three decades, 94,600 cubic yards of oily, hazardous sludge from steelmaking has been sitting in two open craters in the ground on the west side of U.S. Steel's Gary property. That will end soon.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered U.S. Steel to come up with a plan to remove the waste about 30 years ago. Now the company is finally ready to transport the acid sludge to its on-site hazardous waste unit on Gary's north side.

U.S. Steel has submitted a $4.3 million closure plan to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, which is up for public comment until Sept. 11.

If IDEM approves the plan, the company would start removing the black and brown sludge within five months.

The company wants to dispose of the material in its corrective action management unit (or CAMU) north of Ellsworth Street and West 2nd Avenue in Gary, where it would be mixed with contaminated sediment dredged from the Grand Calumet River and eventually capped. The storage would require EPA approval.

If EPA does not approve, the sludge would be transported off-site to a hazardous waste treatment or storage facility.

"U.S. Steel is currently not aware of a commercially available cost-effective solution for treating these materials in place," U.S. Steel spokeswoman Erin DiPietro said in an e-mail. "Removal of the material and placement in the CAMU ensures that the wastes are contained in a state of the art facility designed to ensure long term protection of the environment." * * *

From 1967 to the mid-1980s, U.S. Steel used the unlined and uncovered holes, which total five acres, to dispose of the waste temporarily. After one lagoon was filled, the liquid-neutralized acid waste was pumped into the other lagoon so the first one could dry out and sludge could be transferred to another site for disposal. One lagoon is about 400 feet long and 260 feet wide. The other is about 600 feet long and up to 200 feet wide. The sludge is up to 13 feet thick.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 18, 2008 08:36 AM
Posted to Environment