EPA warns IDEM of ‘environmental justice concerns’ raised by Gary lime plant permit renewal
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has weighted in on the ongoing controversy surrounding a pending five-year air permit renewal for a Gary lime manufacturing facility.
In a June 5 letter to Jenny Acker, permit branch chief at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s Office of Air Quality, EPA Region 5 Air and Radiation Division Director John Mooney wrote that the current draft permit for Carmeuse Lime LLC’s Gary facility “raises potential environmental justice concerns” and offered a list of recommendations aimed at addressing them.
Two environmental organizations, the local grassroots group Gary Advocates for Responsible Development (GARD) and the Midwest-based Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC), raised concerns about the permit renewal after ELPC staff found a string of permit violations at Carmeuse’s Gary site while reviewing IDEM records.
Infractions included exceeding permitted emission levels for airborne pollutants and failing to conduct regular emissions tests required by the permit, which resulted in a series of IDEM enforcement actions against the Belgium-based company. GARD and ELPC asked IDEM to revise the permit to include more stringent testing requirements or to deny it entirely, as well as to hold a public meeting to field questions about the permitting process.
In a statement to the Post-Tribune, a Carmeuse spokesperson wrote that “the compliance issues referenced in the various comment letters have been corrected and are not ongoing.”
IDEM held a meeting on June 1, attended by representatives of GARD and ELPC as well as three elected officials — State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary; State Rep. Reagan Hatcher, D-Gary; and Gary Councilman David Fossett, D-2nd — all of whom raised environmental concerns about the permit renewal.
At the meeting, Acker stressed that the draft permit, if properly followed, would put Carmeuse in compliance with all relevant environmental regulations, and drew a distinction between the duties of IDEM’s permitting and enforcement branches, which operate largely independently of one another.
The EPA’s website defines “environmental justice” as “the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”
In his letter to Acker, Mooney noted that the predominantly African American city of Gary has borne a disproportionate share of Indiana’s atmospheric pollution. He cited data from EJScreen, the EPA’s environmental justice screening tool, showing that the area surrounding Carmeuse’s Gary facility is in the top 10% for 11 of the 12 indexes tracked by the tool, including diesel particulate matter, air toxics cancer risk, air toxics respiratory hazard, traffic proximity, lead paint and Superfund site proximity.
Mooney offered IDEM four recommendations for the permit renewal process. First, he wrote, the department should conduct an environmental justice analysis incorporating data from EJScreen or elsewhere and input from local community members.
“The analysis should evaluate the potential effects that the permitting action will have on the community, and the degree to which these effects will be disproportionate and adverse,” he wrote. “We recommend including the results of the analysis in the administrative record for the permit.”
Second, Mooney suggested that IDEM “evaluate whether additional monitoring and related record keeping and reporting requirements are needed to ensure that all reasonable information is provided to evaluate continuous compliance with applicable requirements.”
Third, he proposed that the department look beyond the permitting process to implement additional accountability measures.
“Examples may include more regular and robust community engagement by the company (facilitated as needed by local officials, IDEM, or another government entity), a staffed hotline number for the community to contact the facility with any questions or concerns, and an easily accessible website that contains information about how hotline questions/concerns have been answered and addressed,” Mooney wrote.
Finally, Mooney proposed that IDEM make the compliance and enforcement history of Carmeuse’s Gary facility available on an easily navigable public-facing website, adding a recommendation “that, if the proposed project is permitted, data regularly generated by Carmeuse to comply with the permit be made publicly available on the website.”
In an email the Post-Tribune on Thursday, a Carmeuse spokesperson wrote that the company “takes all comments very seriously and is currently reviewing the letter from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.”
In an attached series of comments, the EPA also raised concerns about the use of engineered fuel — alternatives to traditional fossil fuels derived recyclable plastics, cardboard, paper, waste timber and other combustible materials — at the facility, which is allowed under the draft permit. In 2019, Carmeuse Lime LLC purchased Innofuel Energy Solutions, a nearby waste-to-fuel plant that has been nonoperational since it was damaged in a fire. The agency noted that the draft permit does not clarify what type of engineered fuels are permitted for burning at the Gary Carmeuse plant, and voiced concern over the environmental impact of certain types of engineered fuels.
The Carmeuse spokesperson noted that the draft permit already requires that engineered fuels burned at the Gary facility burn as clean or cleaner than coal, and added that the company “does not know when the facility will go back online, as the materials processing building requires complete reconstruction.” Restarting operations at Innofuel would also require going through a separate IDEM permitting process.
IDEM’s public comment deadline for the Carmeuse permit renewal elapsed on Monday. The department will provide written comments to the EPA, along with all other commenters, in a forthcoming document.
An IDEM spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
