Cleveland Cliffs, Environmental Violations, Indiana 2022

Cleveland Cliffs Fined for Environmental Crimes

In a move to restore public safety and compensate victims, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Indiana collected over $7 million in civil and criminal actions in Fiscal Year 2022. Of this amount, $6,571,549.94 was collected in criminal actions and $493,806.17 was collected in civil actions.

According to United States Attorney Clifford D. Johnson, the Office recovered over 6.5 million dollars from the criminals they prosecuted. Additionally, the Office, through its collections in civil cases, is returning nearly $500,000.00 to the federal treasury.

In May, the Northern District of Indiana recovered $1,513,730 from Cleveland Cliffs for civil penalties in a Clean Water Act case as part of a settlement for a discharge during 2019 into the Burns Waterway leading into Lake Michigan that exceeded ammonia and cyanide limits and resulted in 3,000 dead fish, beach closures, and danger of tainted drinking water.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Indiana, working with partner agencies and divisions, collected $1,357,234 in asset forfeiture actions in FY 2022. Forfeited assets deposited into the Assets Forfeiture Fund are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.

The U.S. Attorneys' Offices, along with the department's litigating divisions, are responsible for enforcing and collecting civil and criminal debts owed to the U.S. and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physical injury or financial loss.

Defendant: Cleveland Cliffs

Crime: Environmental Violations

City and State: Hammond, Indiana

Date: May 2019

Outcome: $1,513,730 in civil penalties

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndin/pr/us-attorneys-office-collected-over-7-million-civil-and-criminal-actions-fiscal-year