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This really sucks. I hope we hear some real details soon......

With the winds coming from south I can see this stuff spreading further up north.

www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Chemical-S...aches-419279844.html

Wow this sucks. Terrible. That video looks like a normal river plum to me though...

Tmik34 wrote:

Wow this sucks. Terrible. That video looks like a normal river plum to me though...

Yeah, the "dark substance" coming into Lake Michigan is river water. Doesn't look out of the ordinary, but folks that aren't anglers are probably not going to understand that.

EPA, NPS, IDEM are coordinating, with EPA on the lead. And the Coast Guard is involved as well.

I haven't heard anything official, since DNR is not directly involved. I did hear some 3rd-hand info (read: of only moderate credibility).

I heard that Portage Marina was closed, but uncertain of how long that might last. If you are planning to launch out of Burns Ditch anytime in the next several days, I would definitely call ahead first.

With the cuts from the Trump administration, hopefully the EPA will even do anything about this! How can companies to "allowed" to polute not only the water we fish in, and swim on, but also use for drinking water! People need to start tok realize that these natural resources will not be here forever, and it takes people like us to stand up and fight forwhat we believe in!

PORTAGE — The National Park Service has closed a third beach area — Cowles Bog Beach — at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore until further notice due to the recent discovery of a toxic spill from U.S. Steel into the Burns Waterway, the park service announced Wednesday afternoon.

"This additional beach closure is based on a recommendation that all beaches within three miles of the discharge be closed as a precaution to protect the health of park visitors," NPS said in the release.

U.S. Steel said an equipment failure Tuesday at its Midwest Plant resulted in a chemical leak into the waterway that forced the shutdown of a drinking water intake along Lake Michigan and several nearby beaches.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is leading the investigation into the spill of hexavalent chromium, a toxic byproduct of industrial processes, into the waterway, which is within 100 yards of Lake Michigan, officials said.

The spill forced the closure Tuesday of Indiana American Water's intake in Ogden Dunes and several beaches, including West Beach and Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Ogden Dunes' town beach. On Wednesday, NPS announced the closure of Cowles Bog Beach.

Ogden Dunes officials said the town's drinking water is currently coming from Indiana American's plant in Gary. EPA said the water intake at Ogden Dunes was shut down "out of an abundance of caution."

U.S. Steel reported the release of wastewater Tuesday from the Tin and Tin Free electroplating process, the company said.

"The wastewater is from the process used to treat the steel strip after electroplating, and the rinse water from this process is conveyed via pipe to a dedicated treatment plant," U.S. Steel said in a statement. "The preliminary investigation revealed that an expansion joint in the rinse water pipe failed and resulted in the water being released to a different wastewater treatment plant and ultimately Burns Waterway through an outfall."

U.S. Steel said it notified several other agencies and shut down all of its production processes.

"Additional steps to mitigate the impact are being taken," U.S. Steel said. "These steps include the isolation and repair of the damaged pipe, recovery of material, and the addition of a water treatment compound, sodium trithiocarbonate (CNa2S3), to the waste water treatment plant to convert and aid in the removal of hexavalent chromium."

The company said it would continue to work with local, state and federal agencies to resolve the problem.

Ogden Dunes Town Council President Tim Nelson said town officials are monitoring the situation and awaiting additional information.

"We are gathering information right now. It is too early to tell if there is an impact on the town," Nelson said.

Save the Dunes warned "people and pets should avoid direct contact with Lake Michigan" until further notice. A fish killed is expected to be the result, the nonprofit environmental group said.

Hexavalent chromium is the same "carcinogenic chemical that appeared in the 2000 biographical film, 'Erin Brockovich,'" Save the Dunes said. It can cause reversible and irreversible skin lesions on direct contact, the group said.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, direct skin contact with hexavalent chromium can cause a nonallergic skin irritation. Contact with non-intact skin also can lead to chrome ulcers. These are small crusted skin sores with a rounded border. They heal slowly and leave scars.

Save the Dunes said Lake Michigan is a primary source of drinking water for many residents of Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management was notified of the wastewater discharge, but EPA is the lead agency, an IDEM spokesman said.

EPA said Tuesday night it was monitoring Burns Waterway and Lake Michigan and that sampling showed the chemical was not detected in the lake. EPA said it would continue to monitor and provide updates "as needed." The agency had not provided any further updates as of 1 p.m. Wednesday. No activity related to a cleanup could be observed along the waterway Wednesday morning.

Check back at nwi.com for updates to this story.

Times staff writer Joyce Russell contributed to this report.

UPDATE: EPA: Chemical spill originated at U.S. Steel, residents should steer clear of beaches

It sure was nice of the EPA to give us a heads up as we launched the boat last night of what was in the water. They were coming in as we were launching. And not a word about what was going on, untill I got home and saw that it was hexavalent chrome...

Why want to get cancer? I wouldn't even put my hands in that water and never eat the fish I'd rather go to Michigan or Wisconsin

And what killed all the fish 3 weeks ago. Did the DNR have those fish tested for CHEMS ????

Jennyjack4 wrote:

And what killed all the fish 3 weeks ago. Did the DNR have those fish tested for CHEMS ????

Please look up the information about that event. It was a still captured from a video.