Cleveland Cliffs LLC, Burns Harbor (formerly ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor), Portage, Indiana

The Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor, (CCBH) facility, formerly known as ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor (AMBH), is one of the largest fully integrated steel mills in North America, with the capacity to produce 5 million tons of raw steel per year. It operates under National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit No. IN0000175, which was issued on May 27, 2016, and expires on June 30, 2021.

On August 11, 2019, AMBH suffered a pump failure on its blast furnace gas closed water recycle system, which required the facility to draw Lake Michigan water for use in the blast furnace gas air scrubbers. Since the pumps to recycle the air scrubber water were not functioning, the water became “once-through” water and the facility discharged many more millions of gallons than during normal operations. The once-through water could not be treated due to the high volume and flowed out of an outfall to the East Arm of the Little Calumet River.

Due to this pump failure, the Burns Harbor facility discharged cyanide and ammonia-nitrogen exceeding its NPDES permit limit. IDNR determined that 3,000 fish died in the East Arm of the Little Calumet River near the Portage Marina.  Ogden Dunes and the Indiana Dunes National Park closed beaches in the area and a nearby drinking water intake facility was closed.

AMBH monitored exceedances of its cyanide limit for five days and the ammonia-nitrogen limit for six days. The blast furnace gas closed water recycle system pumps were operational again on Aug. 15, 2019.

On December 9, 2020, Cleveland Cliffs LLC. purchased the ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor facility. The facility is now known as Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor  LLC.

EPA and IDEM conducted inspections in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. Inspection reports are posted below.

Documents

• Inspection Report Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor (December 12, 2022) (pdf) (3.17 MB, Feb. 15, 2023)
• Inspection Report Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor (July 28, 2022) (pdf) (3.08 MB, Aug. 20, 2022)
• Inspection Report Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor (June 23, 2022) (pdf) (1.57 MB, Jul. 19, 2022)
• Inspection Report Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor (May 25, 2022) (pdf) (1.79 MB, Jul. 13, 2022)
• Approval of the Final 001 Storm Ditch Ammonia-N Report (pdf) (127.32 KB, Jun 13, 2022)
• Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor Consent Decree (pdf) (4.12 MB, May 6, 2022)
• Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor Consent Decree – Judge Decision (pdf) (92.3 KB, May 6, 2022)
• Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor Consent Decree Correction Memo (pdf) (591.11 KB, April 21, 2022)
• Final 001 Storm Ditch Ammonia-N Report (pdf) (5.11 MB, 01/26/2022)
• Final Phase 2 Ammonia-N Mass Balance Study Report 012622 (pdf) (2.21 MB, 01/26/2002)
• Outfall 002 Expanded Sampling Program Final Report 012622 (pdf) (3.81 MB, 01/26/2022)
• Inspection Report Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor (September 10, 2021) (pdf) (3.6 MB)  (11/18/2021)
• Inspection Report Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor (July 12, 2021) (pdf) (4.82 MB)
• Inspection Report Cleveland Cliffs Burns Harbor (April 19, 2021) (pdf) (8.32 MB, 7/29/2021)
• Inspection Report for ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor (pdf) (229.32 KB, Dec. 8 - 9, 2020)
• Inspection Report for ArcelorMittal 11/162020 and 11/19/2020 (pdf) (11.28 MB)
• Inspection Report ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor, Oct. 26, 2020 (pdf) (6.78 MB, October 2020)
• ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor Inspection Report Aug. 12, 2020 (Convenience Copy) (pdf) (2.55 MB, August 2020)
• Inspection Report ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor (Feb. 2020) (pdf) (655.08 KB)
• Inspection Report ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor - November 7-8, 2019 (pdf) (2.2 MB)
• Inspection Report for ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor - October 1, 2019 (pdf) (15.13 MB, November 5, 2019)
• Inspection Report for ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor (pdf) (7.27 MB)

The following links exit the site

• Indiana Department of Environmental Management  ArcelorMittal Fish Kill