### 1 Public meeting scheduled EPA is having two public meetings about the five requests from

ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor that the Agency is considering.

The first is an informal open house where you will be able to talk with EPA officials and ask questions.

The open house will be followed by a formal public hearing. At this hearing, you can make oral comments or submit

a written statement for the record:

Wednesday, March 24 Open House – 3:30 to 6 p.m. Public Hearing – 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Both meetings will be at:

Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission 6100 Southport Road, Portage



### Comments welcome EPA encourages comments on its proposal to approve ArcelorMittal’s requests. The comment period closes

on April 7.

Submit comments in writing to: Rebecca Harvey Water Division (WU-16J) EPA Region 5

77 W. Jackson Blvd. Chicago, IL 60604-3590

312-886-6594 harvey.rebecca@epa.gov 

# EPA Reviewing Requests for

Renewals and New Permit

ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor LLC would be allowed to continue injecting hazardous waste deep beneath the earth ’s surface if U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 approves the company’s five pending requests.

ArcelorMittal has three injection wells operating at 250 W. U.S. Highway 12 in Burns Harbor. These wells inject waste from a steelmaking processknown as “steel pickling” and waste ammonia liquor, a product of cokemaking. The wells are subject to two different federal environmental laws, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, or RCRA. Both laws regulate disposal of hazardous waste by underground injection.

The Safe Drinking Water Act requires ArcelorMittal to have an underground injection control permit for each well. The company is seeking renewal of permits for its three existi ng wells and a new permit to construct and operate a fourth well.

RCRA prohibits disposal of hazardous waste underground, so the company must also have what EPA calls a “land ban exemption.” To qualify for this exemption, a person or company must have a valid permit and demonstrate that injected waste will stay in place for as long as it remains hazardous. EPA granted ArcelorMittal a land ban exemption in 1990 but it must be reviewed periodically to ensure th at the conditions under which it was granted are still valid. The company has requested renewal of its exemption. After reviewing ArcelorMittal’s requ ests, EPA found the company has shown that injected waste will stay in deep rock formations for at least 10,000 years, and that it will not threaten any underground sources of drinking water. Therefore, Region 5 plans to grant ArcelorMittal’s request to renew the exemption and permits, as well as issue a fourth permit.

Map of the area where under ground injection wells are located 

### ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor

Burns Harbor, Indiana February 2010

### 2 The permits would be valid for 10 years and the exemption until Dec. 31, 2027.



### Other regulatory actions In addition to the company’s five requests, there are three other environmental regulatory actions that involve the Burns Harbor facility. One of these actions is connected with the permit requests.

Corrective Action The draft UIC permits contain what EPA calls “corrective action requirements.” They are a result of investigations at the Burns Harbor facility during the 1990s to identify any releases of hazardous materials at the site. EPA investigated 43 areas, requiring

ArcelorMittal to take action in 20 of these areas since the studies began. EPA approved a final Corrective Measures Implementation Work Plan in 2006, which required controls on land u se and ground water use. In an area identified as IA-1, EPA is requiring ArcelorMittal to monitor the ground water until benzene contamination has been cleaned up. A previous problem with toluene in that area has alreadybeen corrected. In an area identified as IA-3, groundwater monitoring will continue for up to three more years to demonstrate stability in contaminant levels.

These corrective action requirements are included in the draft UIC permits because ArcelorMittal is not required to obtain any other RCRA permits.

Landfill Permit Action ArcelorMittal has applied for a solid waste landfill permit from Indiana Department of Environmental Management for its Deerfield Storage Facility. Because this new landfill will not contain any hazardous waste – as defined by RCRA – the permit must be issued by the state agency rather than EPA. This landfill has no connection with the underground injection wells.

Material destined for this landfill will come from existing non-hazardous waste storage areas.

NPDES Permit Action The company’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits are up for renewal by IDEM. This renewal process is also a separate issue from the underground injection wells.

EPA has oversight authority over IDEM in the landfill and NPDES permit actions.



### Technical information

Contaminants Waste ammonia liquor is roughly 99 percent water with organic contaminants. The primary contaminant, as the name implies, is ammonia (2003 average concentration of 4,138 milligrams per liter; mg/L). Spent pickle liquor is generated as a byproduct of the steel sheet pickling operation. The continuous pickling operation uses a hydrochloric acid solution in a cascading (i.e., counter-current flow) system to remove scale and rust from the steel strip in preparation for further processing in the cold mill. The spent pickle liquor is about 87 percent water with hydrochloric acid and iron as ferrous chloride. The spent pickle liquor will also contain minor concentrations of other metals,

such as chromium and nickel , typically present in the steel being processed.

Geologic Suitability Wells of this type – which EPA calls Class I wells – must be in areas that are geologically suitable. ArcelorMittal provided geologic, hydrologic, geochemical and seismic information, in addition to test data and logs from the existing wells, to show that the facility is located at a geologically suitable site.

Underground Sources of Drinking Water An underground source of drinking water, or USDW, is any aquifer or part of an aquifer that is being used, or can be used, as a source of drinking water and contains less than 10,000 mg/L of total dissolved solids. The base of the lowermost USDW is approximately 726 feet below the surface. This water-bearing formation is

known as the Brassfield Limestone.

Hydrology and Geology These wells are injecting waste into the lower Mt. Simon Sandstone. The “injection interval” is between 2,734 and 4,297 feet below the surface. The Mt. Simon Sandstone is separated from the lowermost USDW by approximately 2,000 feet of sedimentary rock composed of shale, limestone, sandstone and dolomite.

Just above the injection interval is the “arrestment interval,” which lies between 2,180 and 2,734 feet below the surface. This layer of rock prevents the waste from moving up. There are no faults in the rock through which waste might seep upward. Over the arrestment interval is the “confining zone,” which is a 244-foot thick zone of rock that provides additional protection. These formations extend for hundreds of square miles.

Seismic Activity Indiana is an area of low earthquake risk. Midwestern earthquakes are infrequent, generally of low magnitude and have epicenters far below the injection interval. There is virtually no possibility of damage to the well or leakage of waste from the injection zone as a result of earthquakes.

### 3 Area of Review All Class I wells have an “area of review.” In this case,

ArcelorMittal used an area that extends five miles from their three wells and from the nearby U.S. Steel Midwest Plant’s injection well. If there are other wells in the area of review that reach the injection zone, waste under pressure could contaminate supplies of drinking water by moving up through a well near the injection site, or through an abandoned well that was improperly plugged. ArcelorMittal’s petition shows

there are five wells within the area of review. All five have been properly complete d, plugged or abandoned, so a corrective action plan is not required.

Annual Tests The injection wells must pass a pressure test and radioactive tracer survey every year and a temperature survey every 60 months to confirm that injected fluids cannot move upward along the well bore out of the injection zone. These tests demonstrate the mechanical integrity of a well’s long string casing, injection tubing,

annular seal and bottom hole cement. All three wells passed these tests in June and July of 2009.

Land Ban Modeling Finally, the 10,000-year post-operational period was modeled to predict the maximum vertical and

horizontal movement of the waste. Because the ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel injection wells are so close, the model incorporated both sites. The maximum vertical distance the waste is predicted to move is 55 feet, which is less than the 554-foot thickness of the arrestment interval. The prediction of maximum sideways movement is 5.87 miles from the injection well, but the nearest point of discharge into a USDW is greater than 10 miles from the facility. Therefore, ArcelorMittal has demonstrated that, to a reasonable degree of certainty, hazardous constituents will not migrate upward out of the injection zone or sideways to a point of discharge in 10,000 years.



### Well operational parameters Maximum Injection Pressure The maximum permitted injection pressure for the waste ammonia liquor wells is 977 pounds per square inch gauge and 699 psig for the spent pickle liquor well, based on previous operation of these wells. For the proposed fourth well, the maximum injection pressure in the permit is proposed to be 977 psig. However, during the drilling of the proposed well, the fracture gradient of the rocks at this location will be measured and the maximum permitted injection pressures adjusted to includ e this new information. If the fracture gradient is not measured within two years after the effective date of these permits, the maximum permitted injection pressure will be reduced to 720 psig for the existing waste ammonia liquo r wells, 725 psig for the proposed waste ammonia liquor well and 344 psig for the spent pickle liquor well.

Maximum Injection Rate The maximum injection rate for the combined injection of waste ammonia liquor is currently 240 gallons per

minute calculated over one-month intervals. If the current petition for exemption from the restrictions of land disposal of hazardous waste is approved, the limit will be raised to 300 gallons per minute. The maximum injection rate for the injection of spent pickle liquor will be limited to 175 gallons per minute calculated over one-month

intervals.

Financial Assurance ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor LLC has demonstrated – by

means of financial statem ent – adequate financial resources to plug and abandon these wells. This financial assurance must be updated and submitted to EPA on an

annual basis.



### Conditions of petition approval The proposed renewal of the land ban exemption is subject to conditions. If ArcelorMittal does not comply, EPA may terminate the exemption or take enforcement action. ArcelorMittal must petition EPA for approval of any changes in the conditions.

• The exemption applies to the existing injection wells, SPL #1, WAL #1, and WAL #2.

• Injection is limited to that part of the lower Mt. Simon Sandstone between 2,734 and 4,297 feet

feet below the surface.

• Only waste from the steel pickling process or from the coke-making process may be injected.

• Maximum concentration limits in the injection fluid at the well head are benzene 220 mg/L, chromium 133 mg/L, naphthalene 260 mg/L, nickel 50 mg/L, phenol 3,780 mg/L, pyridine 116 mg/L and selenium 5 mg/L.

• The minimum value of pH in the injection fluid at

the well head is zero.

• Annual injected volume must not exceed 92,043,000 gallons for SPL #1 and 157,788,000 gallons for WAL #1 and WAL #2 combined.

• Exemption is approved for the 22-year modeled injection period, which ends Dec. 31, 2027.

• ArcelorMittal must comply with UIC permits.

• All regulatory requirements in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations , Sections 148.23 and 148.24 are incorporated by reference.

• If EPA determines that the basis for approval of a petition may no longer be valid, EPA may terminate this exemption and will require a new

demonstration.

### 4 For more information You can inspect the Administrative Record, including all data submitted by ArcelorMittal, at the Region 5 office in Chicago. Please contact William Bates (regarding the land ba n exemption) or Stephen Roy (regarding the permits) for an appointment. You may also contact Bates if yo u would like a CD of the land ban exemption petition

documents.

William Bates Stephen Roy

312-886-6110 312-886- 6556 bates.william@epa.gov roy.stephen@epa.gov

You may view the fact sheet, the draft pe rmits and the draft land ban exemption at:

Valparaiso Public Library 103 Jefferson, Valparaiso

Thomas Library 200 W. Indiana Ave., Chesterton

Or visit: www.epa.gov/region5/water/uic/uicpub.htm.

Call Region 5 toll-free, 800-621-8431, weekdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m

.

## Two Meetings Scheduled on ArcelorMittal Requests

Burns Harbor, Indiana

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hol d a formal public hearing on its proposal to approve five pending requests by ArcelorMitta l Burns Harbor LLC. Approval would allow the company to continue injecting hazardous waste d eep underground. An informal open house will precede the hearing. The meetings are on:

Wednesday, March 24 Open house: 3:30 – 6 p.m. Public Hearing: 7 – 8:30 p.m.

Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission 6100 Southport Road, Portage

EPA encourages comments from the public. The co mment period closes April 7. You may make an oral statement at the public hearing, or submit written comments for the record.

ArcelorMittal has three underground injection wells operating at 250 W. U.S. Highway 12 in Burns Harbor and plans to construct a fourth. The company has an exemption from the federal ban on disposal of hazardous waste underground, known as a “land ban exemption,” and three injection well permits from EPA. ArcelorMittal has requested renewal of the land ban exemption and the three existing permits. It is seeking a f ourth permit for a new well. After reviewing the requests, EPA found the company has shown that injected waste will not threaten underground sources of drinking water. Therefore, EPA plans to grant the company’s requests.

EPA originally granted the land ban exempti on and the three existing permits in 1990. The permits would be would be valid for 10 years and the exemption until Dec. 31, 2027.

If you have questions or would like additional information, contact:

William Bates (for the exemption) Stephen Roy (for the permits)

Lead Petition Reviewer Permit Writer

312-886-6110 312-886-6556 bates.wiliam@epa.gov. roy.stephen@epa.gov

You may call Region 5 toll-free at 800-621-8431, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., weekdays.