US Steel plant spills chromium into waterway
Pipe failure releases 135kg of hexavalent chromium into Lake Michigan tributary
A plant owned by US Steel in Indiana released around 135kg of carcinogenic hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) into the Burns Waterway – a Lake Michigan tributary – over a two-day period from 11 April. The release is many hundreds of times above the daily maximum limit of 4.5kg set by state law.
The leak was caused by a failed expansion joint in a rinse water pipe. The incident closed the facility for almost a week and shut down local beaches, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).