Cleveland-Cliffs agrees to settlement over 2019 wastewater spill at Indiana steel mill

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland steel-maker Cleveland-Cliffs has agreed to pay a $3 million penalty to the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Indiana for an August 2019 discharge of wastewater containing ammonia and cyanide into a river that flows into Lake Michigan.

Cleveland-Cliffs also has agreed to transfer 127 acres of land adjacent to the Indiana National Lakeshore to a land trust for conservation, and to background sampling on the East Branch of the Little Calumet River and Lake Michigan, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The agreement comes in response to the August 2019 discharge of ammonia and cyanide-laden wastewater into the East Branch of the Little Calumet River from a steel mill in Burns Harbor, Indiana. The spill occurred when the plant was operated by ArcelorMittal, which Cleveland-Cliffs acquired in September 2020.