GARY, Ind. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has blocked a proposed water permit for U.S. Steel Corp. that environmentalists worried would relax or eliminate limits on toxic chemicals the company dumps into the Grand Calumet River.

The EPA told Indiana regulators that the agency won’t allow a new permit for the Gary Works to take effect until problems with the permit are fixed, according to a letter released by the EPA.

“Please be advised that . . . the State may not issue this permit over an EPA objection,” the letter said, citing the agency’s authority under the Clean Water Act.

Experts say Indiana regulators eliminated or failed to include limits on toxic chemicals at some points where the steel mill discharges waste into the Lake Michigan tributary, the Chicago Tribune reported for a story Friday.

But the Indiana Department of Environmental Management says the new permit will actually do more to protect the environment than the permit under which the company is currently operating. U.S. Steel says the permit has no discharge limit increases.

In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press on Friday, IDEM repeated its stand that the draft permit is “more protective” than U.S. Steel’s current permit, which was issued in 1994.

“Much has changed since then, and state and federal standards are more stringent today than in 1994,” the statement said.

U.S. Steel’s permit is one of 11 major discharge permits IDEM is trying to update.

Posted 10/15/2007