November 21, 2024
East Chicago, IN – The East Chicago Calumet Coalition Community Advisory Group (ECCC-CAG), represented by the University of Chicago’s Abrams Environmental Law Clinic (AELC), sent a letter today to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) urging the agency to impose stricter permit conditions at Tradebe’s East Chicago facility in light of newly-revealed serious violations at the site. Advocates discovered the new violations in an inspection report posted on IDEM’s online document repository after the recent close of public comments on the facility’s draft hazardous waste permit.
IDEM is poised to act on two critical permits for Tradebe Treatment and Recycling, a hazardous waste processing facility in East Chicago. These decisions include a renewal and expansion of the facility’s hazardous waste permit under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and a modification of the facility’s air permit under the Clean Air Act (CAA). An array of community and environmental advocacy groups, including ECCC-CAG, AELC, and the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) submitted two public comments to IDEM earlier this fall, urging more stringent permit conditions and stricter oversight and accountability for Tradebe’s operations, due to the company’s extensive history of permit and safety violations at the site.
“On multiple occasions, inspectors have documented Tradebe’s numerous violations of environmental laws, so it’s up to IDEM to enforce the law and impose stricter permit conditions,” stated Mark Templeton, AELC Clinic Director. “If Tradebe can’t comply with its existing permits, IDEM should not reward Tradebe with approval to expand its operations.”
The first public comment, submitted to IDEM on September 23, 2024, criticized deficiencies in the proposed RCRA permit. “Given Tradebe’s repeated history of permit violations, IDEM should not authorize any expansion without mandating meaningful, enforceable improvements in how the company operates,” said Kerri Gefeke, an associate attorney with ELPC. Advocates also demanded that IDEM pause the permit renewal process to conduct a thorough evaluation of Tradebe’s cumulative impact on public health and the local environment, in light of East Chicago’s disproportionate pollution burden. Despite similar requests from U.S. EPA, IDEM’s assistant commissioner Brian Wolff reportedly told the Northwest Indiana Times on September 11, 2024, that the agency would issue the final permitting decision without conducting any cumulative impact assessment.
Mere days after the close of public comments on Tradebe’s RCRA permit, IDEM conducted an inspection of the facility on September 24 and 25, 2024 and found numerous serious violations of Tradebe’s RCRA permit conditions, including:
-“Rainwater…leaking through the roofs…and through the wall” in areas where “wastes designated as ‘dangerous when wet’…are often stored.”
-“A spill” caused by a forklift truck driver who was “unable to stop and punctured two 55-gallon drums of hazardous waste.”
-A chemical “release” causing “[s]heens of two different colors” found “flowing south on the concrete area” near the east side of the property.
Selected photographs from IDEM’s inspection report illustrate these and other serious violations.
While the inspection report states that “IDEM will issue an appropriate enforcement response,” IDEM has repeatedly stated that its enforcement decisions do not influence its permitting decisions. As a result, it appears that Tradebe’s pending permits will not be strengthened to account for the company’s many violations.
“[W]ith two critical permits on the line, you’d think Tradebe would go above and beyond to show they’re serious about compliance. These recent violations suggest otherwise,” stated Dorreen Carey, president of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development (GARD). AELC clinic student Rachel Schwartz added, “I have reviewed many Tradebe inspection reports, and this is one of the worst I’ve seen. If Tradebe isn’t taking compliance seriously now, I have serious doubts that they would change once the permits are in place.”
The second public comment, submitted to IDEM on November 4, 2024, identified failings in the modification of Tradebe’s CAA Permit. The main purpose of this modification is to authorize Tradebe’s operation of its Drum Shredder, equipment that destroys empty metal drums that previously stored hazardous materials. Tradebe has operated the Drum Shredder unlawfully for twenty years, and it did not apply for a proper permit until EPA inspectors caught the company illegally operating the equipment in 2022.
In the comment, advocates argued that Tradebe’s unlawful Drum Shredder is symptomatic of a broader pattern of regulatory non-compliance, and they called on IDEM to take meaningful enforcement action. The comment also raised serious concerns that by treating the Drum Shredder and other Tradebe equipment as discrete and unrelated sources of emissions, rather than aggregating them as integrated or interdependent processes, IDEM is proposing to issue a permit to Tradebe with fewer emissions restrictions and mitigation technology requirements than required by law.
Both public comments were filed following well-attended public meetings organized by IDEM. At these meetings, community members shared their concerns about the health and environmental impacts of Tradebe’s operations, and their frustrations with IDEM’s approach to permitting and enforcement.
“The message we heard cannot be ignored—residents are deeply concerned about Tradebe’s impact on health, quality of life, and the environment in East Chicago and surrounding communities,” said Ashley Williams, Executive Director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana. Tim DaSilva of Green EC added: “Community members made it clear they are deeply disappointed in IDEM’s unwillingness to hold Tradebe accountable.” Akeeshea Daniels, ECCC-CAG co-chair, further stated that “IDEM seems more interested in protecting industry than the health of the people those industries harm.”
Advocates also highlighted the need for improved coordination between IDEM’s Office of Land Quality and Office of Air Quality, as well as between IDEM’s permitting, inspections, and enforcement staff, to make IDEM’s regulatory oversight more effective. Advocates also urged IDEM to integrate frequent inspections, third-party audits, and community notification requirements into the permits to ensure transparent, consistent, and lawful operations at Tradebe.
“Poor internal coordination at IDEM has allowed Tradebe to get away with non-compliance for far too long, without meaningful consequences,” said Sam Heppell, AELC Clinical Teaching Fellow. Mike Zoeller, Senior Attorney at the Conservation Law Center, added: “IDEM is playing catch up and trying to backfill legal authorization for what the company has been doing in practice already. That is not how environmental regulation is supposed to work.”
Organizations signing the public comments include the East Chicago Calumet Coalition Community Advisory Group, University of Chicago Law School’s Abrams Environmental Law Clinic, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Environmental Advocacy Center, Conservation Law Center, Environmental Law & Policy Center, Just Transition Northwest Indiana, Green EC, Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, and Hoosier Environmental Council.