Following the discovery of Hexavalent chromium in a waterway near the Indiana  Dunes National Lakeshore, close to Lake Michigan, US Steel shut down operations at its Midwest Plant in Portage Indiana. Less than a week later, and having fixed an accidental chemical leak, the plant is up and running again.

According to US Steel, “The controlled, phased and highly monitored restart at our Midwest plant, which began on Friday 14 April, is now complete. At present we have encountered no additional issues. All water sampling and visual inspections performed during the restart process at around the outfall where the process release occurred, within Lake Michigan, including the public water intake, and adjacent shorelines have shown no elevated hexavalent chromium levels.”

US Steel said it takes all incidents very seriously and is fully committed to investigating additional corrective actions needed to prevent a future occurrence. “We remain committed to protecting the environment, to the communities in which we operate and to the safety of our employees,” the company said.