GARY, Ind. (AP) — State regulators heard plenty of objections from the public over a wastewater discharge permit renewal for U.S. Steel’s Gary Works.

John Crayton of Chesterton called the permit data “completely unintelligible” and asked whether there was a simple answer to whether pollution will increase in Lake Michigan and the Grand Calumet River.

“Don’t you need to know the answer to that question before you do anything else?” Crayton asked Wednesday during a public hearing on the company’s permit request.

Those attending the Wednesday hearing also criticized Indiana Department of Environmental Management guidelines and U.S. Steel for not exceeding those guidelines and not trying to eliminate discharges altogether.

Some expressed concern about the company’s mercury emissions, which state officials said would be placed under a strict limit with the new permit. The state agency also has taken heat over its handling of a recent pollution permit for BP’s Whiting oil refinery, which is about 10 miles west of U.S. Steel’s Gary Works along Lake Michigan.

U.S. Steel’s permit is one of 11 major discharge permits IDEM is attempting to update. State environmental management Commissioner Tom Easterly said the agency has made progress with the backlog, but it will not renew the major permits by the end of the year.

Crayton and other residents said the state’s system for filing and tracking permits is confusing and disorganized.

Easterly agreed, “You’ve hit on a really major problem, and we’re working on it.”

U.S. Steel officials said the permit request calls for stricter discharge limits, not increases. The company said the accuracy of its method for reporting mercury will improve.

The public has until Monday to submit comments to the state agency.

Posted 9/28/2007