Though some companies cut back on Lake Michigan basin pollution in 2007, overall chemical releases from Indiana and Illinois industries increased, a Times' review of recently released EPA data shows.
Nearly a year ago, The Times published an investigative report detailing companies ringing Lake Michigan -- from the northern tip of Wisconsin to those in northwest Indiana -- and the chemicals released by industry into the lake basin.
Based on figures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory, the report chronicled companies and communities and their connection to the lake.
MORE: Revisit coverage from The Times' eight month investigation into Lake Michigan pollution.
A year later, recently released EPA data shows pollution flowing to the vast, freshwater resource continues to ebb and flow.
Status as a state
Though results differed among sites, overall Indiana and Illinois industrial lake discharges increased in 2007 compared with the previous year.
Hoosier companies together dumped more than 2 million pounds of chemicals into the lake and its tributaries, a 36 percent jump, the EPA data shows.
But roughly half of Indiana's 11 sites that discharge into basin waterways released fewer chemicals.
It's difficult to characterize the fluctuations without knowing about each plant's operations, said Rick Bossingham, of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
Bossingham, assistant commissioner for IDEM's Office of Pollution Prevention and Technical Assistance, said the agency investigates the causes of significant changes in chemical output.
The agency has contacted Indiana companies among the top 10 with pollution increases and top 10 in decreases. Bossingham said he could not think of any dramatic increases IDEM has deemed especially worrisome.
In Illinois, nearly all 10 companies discharging to lake basin waterways decreased releases. But one company was responsible for the state's overall increase of 47.8 percent in Lake Michigan pollution, the data shows.
At the Citgo refinery in Lemont, about 30 miles southwest of Chicago, chemical discharges spiked by 83.8 percent to nearly 30,000 pounds, the EPA reports.
In a written response, a company official said the hike stems in part from the levels of nitrates in the water the plant pulls in from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Nitrates, the chemical often dumped by basin polluters, are a chemical mix of nitrogen and oxygen and can be separated from water.
Closer to home
Northwest Indiana industries dotting the lake varied in 2007 discharges to basin waters.
U.S. Steel in Gary remains the lake's top industrial polluter, dumping about 1.6 million pounds of chemicals, a 54 percent bump, the EPA reported. But pollution at the steelmaker's Portage site fell about 16 percent.
Company spokesman Charles Rice said the company has found errors in its reported figures and is addressing the discrepancies with the EPA.
At BP's Whiting Refinery -- the scene of intense scrutiny over water pollution permits -- chemical releases rose about 7 percent to more than 22,000 pounds.
BP spokesman Tom Keilman said the numbers fluctuate depending on refinery operations and factors including heavy rain.
"The (2007) numbers fall into the variable operating range of water discharges if you were to look at the historical data over the past five or so years," Keilman wrote in a response.
Performance was split among ArcelorMittal's region plants, with two decreasing pollution output.
The Indiana Harbor West plant saw a dramatic 68.6 percent fall in water releases, and the Burns Harbor plant dumped about 7 percent less.
At the Indiana Harbor East site, pollution increased nearly 30 percent.
An ArcelorMittal spokeswoman referred to a January 2008 response provided to The Times. In that note, the company said the EPA data was not the best reflection of a facility's compliance with environmental regulations.
