CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Chicago alderman has blasted Indiana officials following this week’s U.S. Steel spillage of a substance into a waterway that connects with Lake Michigan.
“As the neighboring state, we cannot be silent,” 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins said.
In a tweet, the alderman took aim at the state of Indiana’s enforcement of pollution laws.
“The state of Indiana routinely allows the steel industry to dump toxins in our drinking water. Normally it’s (relatively) small amounts, but occasionally it’s a massive plume that kills all it touches. Industry says ‘oops,’ state shrugs. This must end now,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins said that puts Chicagoans’ drinking water at risk.
“The Indiana Department of Environment Management, not Environment Protection, Environment Management. That’s a key right there to the fact that they are so cozy with industry,” Hopkins continued.
The alderman said the federal Environmental Protection Agency needs to clamp down on industries that pollute waterways that connect to Lake Michigan and Chicago’s source of drinking water.
“Even though it’s Indiana’s responsibility to regulate it, it’s incumbent on us in the city of Chicago to step up and say, ‘They’re not doing their job properly and they’re putting the residents of this region at risk for contaminated drinking water,’” he said.
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Hopkins said Chicago must protect its greatest natural resource — its fresh water supply.
“In many ways, we’re the envy of the world. What Saudi Arabia is to oil, we are drinking water in the Midwest with the Great Lakes at our doorstep,” he said.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management said it’s still waiting for the results of water samples taken by the U.S. EPA to determine what U.S. Steel dumped into Burns Ditch.
U.S. Steel, meanwhile, said the chemicals it discharged were in allowable amounts:
“Preliminary sampling results have shown that we remain in compliance with numeric permit limits. Analysis of the water from the outfall taken during the time of the incident showed elevated concentrations of iron causing the discoloration. There are no indications of permit level exceedances for hexavalent and total chromium, as those sampling results came in well below permit limits. The Midwest Plant was shut down as a precaution, and we continue to coordinate with agencies to collect additional samples to monitor the situation. We will provide more updates as they become available.”
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