EPA RCRA ID: IND005444062
On this page:
- Latest News
- Cleanup Status
- Facility Description
- Contaminants at this Facility
- Institutional/Engineer Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information
- Corrective Action Management Unit (CAMU) Documents
- Contacts for this Facility
Latest News
- CAMU1 Fact Sheet (July, 2022) (523 K)
- CAMU 1 Reauthorization, Draft Approval (July, 2022) (275 K)
- CAMU 1 Frequently Questions (July, 2022) (175 K)
Cleanup Status
Note: The state is the lead agency for managing this facility. For more information about cleanup activities, visit the state’s web page.
In 1998, EPA and U.S. Steel agreed to a corrective action program at Gary Works. This agreement is observed in a Corrective Action Order established under RCRA. The order requires U.S. Steel to investigate contamination at Gary Works and clean it up where necessary to protect people and the environment.
Gary Works is a very large facility with a long operating history. USS completed preliminary investigations across the site, and EPA and USS used that information to identify and prioritize work at specific areas of Gary Works. USS constructed an on-site Corrective Action Management Unit (CAMU) to dispose remediation wastes managed as part of the Gary Works cleanup.
USS has completed several interim cleanup measures including:
- Removing 800,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the Grand Calumet River. This sediment was dewatered and disposed in the CAMU.
- Removing drums from the West Grand Calumet Lagoon.
- Excavating contaminated soil and disposing of it in the CAMU.
- Installing slurry cut-off walls and groundwater extraction wells to control groundwater flowing to Lake Michigan.
Under the authority of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, USS has also closed several waste disposal areas.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. It is not intended as an extensive list of milestones/activities. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table and the Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility table that follows, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility
| Action | Area Name | Date of Action |
|---|
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
U.S. Steel’s Gary Works is built on 4,000 acres of land in northwest Indiana. It stretches for seven miles along the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Gary Works shares its eastern boundary with the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and the Grand Calumet River and the city of Gary are located south of the facility.
Contaminants at this Facility
USS is investigating the extent of contamination in the soil, sediment, groundwater, porewater and surface water resulting from historic spills and waste disposal.
Contaminants at Gary Works include metals, volatile and semi volatile organic compounds, and PCBs.
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
The city of Gary has established a groundwater use ordinance which limits how groundwater is used.
Several engineering controls have been constructed including slurry-cut off walls and groundwater pumping systems to control contaminated groundwater flow.
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
|
Control(s) Type |
Control(s) in Place? |
Areas Subject to Control(s) |
Documents available on-line: |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) |
Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) |
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|
Governmental Controls (GC) |
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Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
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| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | ||||
|
Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) |
Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) |
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Non-Groundwater |
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For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides detailed historical information about enforcement and compliance activities at each RCRA Corrective Action Site in their Enforcement and Compliance Historical Online (ECHO) system.
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
CAMU Documents
- CAMU1 Fact Sheet (July, 2022) (523 K)
- CAMU 1 Reauthorization, Draft Approval (July, 2022) (275 K)
- CAMU 1 Frequently Questions (July, 2022) (175 K)
- 2019 CAMU Annual Report (June, 2020) (113 MB)
- TSCA Authorization Renewal Request ( April2019) (10 MB)
- 2017 CAMU Use, Operations and Maintenance Annual Report (zip) July 2018
- 2018 CAMU Operations and Maintenance 2018 Annual Report (June 2018) (153 MB)
- 2016 CAMU Annual Report (January 2018) (999 MB)
- CAMU Use Procedures (March 2006) (498 K)
- CAMU Closure and Post Closure Plans (February 2003) (7.8 MB)
- CAMU Designation (February 1999) (2 MB)
- RCRA 3008h Consent Order (October 1998) (8.8 MB)
Contacts for this Facility
Tamara Ohl U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Mail Code: LCRD-16J 77 West Jackson Boulevard Chicago, Illinois 60604, phone: 312-886-0991, email: Tamara Ohl (ohl.tamara@epa.gov); Jose Cisneros(Branch Chief of the Remediation Branch); Phone: 312-886-6945; Michael Beedle (Section Chief); Phone: 312-353-7922; Gregory Rudloff (Section Chief); Phone: 312-886-0455; Shilpa Patel (Section Supervisor); Phone: 312-886-0120
All of the states in EPA Region 5 are authorized to implement Corrective Action Programs. As of the end of Fiscal Year 2015, EPA Region 5 had 864 sites listed on the 2020 Corrective Action Baseline.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.