USX Will Pay $34 Million to Settle Pollution Suit : Steel: The firm was charged with dumping waste water into the Grand Calumet River in Indiana.

USX Corp. will pay about $34 million in penalties and cleanup costs for dumping waste water from its Gary, Ind., steel mill, under an agreement announced Friday by federal officials.

“We believe this consent decree is a major victory for the much-abused Grand Calumet River,” said Ralph R. Bauer, deputy regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency. “We expect this decree to provide a framework for improvement and cleanup at the USX plant.”

The out-of-court settlement resolves a 1988 lawsuit filed by the federal government alleging that the Gary mill exceeded waste water discharge limits in the river. The lawsuit also alleged that the company violated the federal Clean Water Act in other ways between 1983 and 1988.

Under the agreement announced by the EPA and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for northern Indiana, the company will pay $1.6 million in civil penalties and an estimated $25 million to improve equipment and develop a comprehensive waste water management plan.

The company has also agreed to pay $2.5 million on a study to determine the extent of sediment contamination in the Grand Calumet in northern Indiana. An additional $5 million will be allocated to clean up whatever contamination is found.

“This is a consent decree,” said George Kuebler, a spokesman for USX’s Gary mill. “There are no admissions to any allegations. The evidence that we are committed to the environment can be seen by agreeing to this decree, which calls for spending beyond what is statutorily required.”

Dale S. Bryson of the regional EPA office said the agreement ranks among the top 10 settlements ever received by the EPA.

He said the $7.5 million the company will pay in total river cleanup costs is the highest amount ever negotiated specifically for that purpose.