September 16, 2025

Four Ways We’re Fighting Air and Water Pollution in Northwest Indiana

We work to hold polluters accountable, reduce air and water pollution, and protect healthy communities; and we have been busy!

By Kerri M. Gefeke, Associate Attorney

Last week, ELPC staff came together for our annual two-day retreat. Our team has been growing recently, and we have new people in Michigan, Illinois, and Washington, D.C. so it was great to meet in person and share our work with one another. As part of the retreat, we all took a bus trip to Northwest Indiana, where the team has been ramping up our work with local partners over the past few years. We fight to hold polluters accountable, reduce air and water pollution, and protect healthy communities; and we have been busy! Here are a few updates from the southern shores of Lake Michigan, where rich biodiversity, heavy industry, and vibrant communities sit side by side.  

U.S. Steel Gary Works Needs a Stronger Air Permit

U.S. Steel Gary Works is the largest integrated steel mill in the United States. It spans 4,000 acres along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Gary, near the Indiana Dunes National Park. The facility applied to modify its air permit, but ELPC and the Environmental Integrity Project identified several problems with the proposal: 

• 

  US Steel Gary Works facility

  Emissions limits based on impossible production levels 

• No clear and enforceable terms 
• Emissions sources missing 
• Inadequate testing requirements 

Associate Attorneys Elise Zaniker and Max Lopez attended a public meeting hosted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to discuss the permit on Wednesday September 3rd. We offered summaries for the public to help spur engagement, and submitted formal comments, along with our partner community groups, on this permit modification on Monday September 8th.  

Read Factsheet

EPA Delays Rules for Iron, Steel, & Coke Hazardous Air Pollution

Last year, the EPA finalized new sets of rules that would have created cleaner processes for iron, steel, and coke-making nationwide, and cleaner air in Northwest Indiana where these are big industries. Unfortunately, the Trump EPA is now trying to delay the effective date for these National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollution (NESHAP).  

Among other things, the standards for iron and steel would have finally regulated such hazardous air pollutants as mercury, hydrochloric acid, and dioxins. They also would have also required fenceline monitoring for chromium – a known carcinogen, and established work practices for basic oxygen process furnaces to capture more fugitive emissions of particulate matter and toxic metals. When the new standards were finalized last year, EPA estimated that they would have a net public health benefit of $3.7 billion from 2026 to 2035 (measured in reduced incidents of asthma, fewer lost school and workdays, and reduced numbers of hospitalizations), while costing industry less than 1% of revenues. 

I testified at EPA’s public hearing on the Iron and Steel NESHAP Interim Final Rule on Wednesday September 3rd and on the Coke NESHAP Interim Final Rule on Thursday September 4th. Delaying these new rules would harm Northwest Indiana by exposing the community to increased hazardous air pollution emissions.  

Read Iron & Steel Testimony

Read Coke Ovens Testimony

Cargill Plant’s Mercury Water Pollution into Lake Michigan is Unsafe

On Friday September 5th, a coalition of 11 environmental groups and the City of Chicago submitted comments on a draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater permit for Cargill Incorporated Texturizing Solution’s corn processing plant in Hammond, Indiana. The draft permit would renew Cargill’s Streamlined Mercury Variance allowing it to continue to emit mercury into Lake Michigan at over 5 times Indiana’s mercury discharge standards.  

Lake Michigan already exceeds water quality standards for mercury, putting human health and aquatic life at risk. IDEM should not renew this mercury variance because doing so would not comply with federal and state water quality laws. 

Read Coalition Comments

Intent to Sue EPA over Gary Works and Cleveland Cliffs Indiana Harbor Air Permits

Steel mills are big business in Northwest Indiana, but they still have to follow the rules like everybody else, to ensure we all have clean air and healthy communities. After state permits for U.S. Steel Gary Works and Cleveland Cliffs Indiana Harbor failed to comply with the Clean Air Act, ELPC petitioned EPA to reject the permits. By law, EPA was required to respond to us within 60 days but failed to do so.  

So, on Wednesday September 3rd, ELPC and Environmental Integrity Project, on behalf of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, Just Transition Northwest Indiana, and ELPC, served EPA with a 60-day Notice of Intent to sue. We are required to give this notice in advance before suing the EPA administrator for his failure to perform a mandatory duty under the Clean Air Act. 

Stay tuned for more! 

Our staff had a great time hiking the dunes, exploring the area, and meeting with our partners last week. Northwest Indiana is a beautiful place, with historic cities and towns amid unique ecological terrain. The region’s heavy industry is a big part of the economy and its cultural fabric, but these industries can and should be responsible neighbors. ELPC will continue to work with local residents to hold polluters accountable, enforce effective protections, and protect clean air and water for everyone.