Lake Michigan beaches close as chemical spill kills hundreds of fish

Andrea Perez Balderrama
Detroit Free Press

A toxic chemical spill by a steel plant has caused beach closures on Lake Michigan and resulted in hundreds of dead fish that are floating up Indiana's Little Calumet River near Portage, Indiana.

Barb Lusco, Harbor Master at the public marina in Portage, says he started seeing some fish wash up near his docks earlier in the week, but that they amount to the hundreds by now. Portage is about a half-hour drive from the Michigan-Indiana border.

"It's carp, it's shad, perch, trout, bluegill, catfish. It's all of the fish," she said. " Anything that swims in our waterway is basically killed."

The alleged culprit of the spill is a steel plant owned by the national company ArcelorMittal. It neighbors the banks of the Little Calumet River, which is part of the Indiana Dunes National Park, a popular vacation spot for Michiganders.

"We responded immediately and are conducting ongoing sampling in the area," said an ArcelorMittal spokesperson.

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The spill has forced the National Park Service to close portions of beaches in the Indiana Dunes National Park.

"Until the direct cause of this fish kill has been determined the impacted waters will remain closed and residents are advised to avoid eating fish in the affected areas," the park service said.

But caution and immediate responses are not enough, Lusco said. State and Federal agencies are not releasing enough information, she said. 

"This is the third incident in three years on the waterway," she added. "People are fed up with the pollution that is going into lake Michigan. Somebody has to protect our natural resource."

Lake Michigan laps against the sandy shore north of Miller Woods in Indiana Dunes National Park.