Coal ash pond cleanup

The Indiana Department of Health provides safety information on fish consumption from waterways across the state. While there are always recommended limitations on the quantity and amount of fish consumed by individuals, the department on occasion issues fishing advisories for this area – but there is no direct correlation to our facility. 

We recognize the future use of NIPSCO’s Michigan City Generating Station property is important to the Michigan City community and that there is much of interest in what will happen as we approach the facility’s retirement. We don’t have an answer today; future plans for the Michigan City site will involve additional coordination with external stakeholders. 

As part of normal operations today – outside of what is beneficially reused – NIPSCO safely transports 50,000 tons of coal ash each year from the Michigan City Generating Station to a regulated, lined and monitored landfill at the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station. Sampling and monitoring reports are regularly submitted to and reviewed by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). 

Coal ash and coal combustion residuals are the materials that remain when coal is burned to generate electricity – similar to the leftover material when wood is burned in a fire. Coal ash can safely be beneficially reused for common building materials, including wallboard, concrete, roofing materials and bricks.  

Modern plants can often manage coal ash as either wet or dry.  Historically, virtually all coal ash was mixed with water to facilitate transport to a surface impoundment where it would be stored.  The wet ash would either remain indefinitely in the impoundment, or would be removed for beneficial reuse or landfill disposal.   Like most utilities, NIPSCO largely utilized a wet ash practice prior to today’s method of managing all ash as dry and transporting it directly to an approved lined landfill at the company’s R.M. Schahfer Generating Station. 

Protecting human health and the environment is vital. The CCR rule is designed by the EPA to ensure the safe management and disposal of coal ash at coal-fired electric generating stations across the nation. The practice of safely transporting ash from NIPSCO's Michigan City Generating Station to the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station has long been in place and is an established part of the company's day-to-day operations.   

Additionally, there are numerous groundwater monitoring points in place today – the data is publicly available on our CCR web site (https://www.nipsco.com/our-company/about-us/our-environment/ccr-rule-compliance) and on IDEM’s web site. additional groundwater monitoring and assessment, with IDEM oversight, will determine what additional long-term corrective action and monitoring are appropriate at the site.

The intent of the pond closure activities was to address the primary source of the known groundwater impacts in place in accordance with environmental regulatory requirements.  

IDEM approved the cleanup plan in accordance with the EPA rule as a step toward that goal.   

And, while the presence of coal ash material exists across portions of the property - the data collected to date, indicates there is no risk to human health or the environment. There are no impacts to drinking water supplied by neighboring communities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and IDEM closely monitor and regulate the entire Michigan City Generating Station – and NIPSCO’s other generating facilities – to determine any actions are necessary to ensure safety of the environment and the community.  

The federally mandated 2015 Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule was specifically designed to ensure the safe disposal of coal ash material from power plants, reduce the risk of catastrophic failure, protect groundwater and ensure energy providers are maintaining proper record keeping and information made available to the public.  The Legacy CCR Rule also went into effect in 2024.   

These CCR rules outline specific requirements and deadlines that NIPSCO must follow.  NIPSCO is committed to complying with  these coal ash rules in a manner that protects human health and the environment.

Yes.  The Michigan City Generating Station seawalls armor the shoreline along Lake Michigan and Trail Creek supporting the overall operations of the station. The seawall does not pose an imminent threat;  the walls are performing as they were designed and they remain stable.  

The Trail Creek seawall restoration project began in April 2025 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2025.  The restoration work entails installing supplemental new sheet piles adjacent to the existing Trail Creek seawall sheet piles and then sealing the interstitial space in between. The materials and design have been evaluated by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), Indiana Dept of Natural Resources (DNR), and the US Army Corps of Engineers.

There are no impacts to drinking water supplied to neighboring communities.  

Ensuring the safety of the local community and protecting an essential natural resource, such as Lake Michigan, is vital. From a health and environmental safety standpoint, the NIPSCO Michigan City Generating Station property is closely monitored and regulated by the EPA and IDEM. 

While there are some known impacts to groundwater under the facility – which are being addressed in part by this work – the data collected to date indicates there is no risk to human health or the environment, which includes the adjacent Lake Michigan and Trail Creek.  The completed closure work is expected to substantially reduce or eliminate the known groundwater impacts. 

NIPSCO currently operates two remaining coal-fired electric generating facilities – the R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield, Ind. and the Michigan City Generating Station, in Michigan City, Ind. NIPSCO plans to retire 100 percent of its remaining coal-fired generation by 2028.  

These timelines are ahead of the facilities’ useful end of lives. And, within the last decades, NIPSCO previously retired its coal-fired D.H. Mitchell Generating Station in Gary, Ind. and coal-fired generation at the Bailly Generating Station in Burns Harbor, Ind.

The intent of the coal ash pond closure projects was to address the primary source of the known groundwater impacts under the facility (there are no impacts to drinking water supplied to neighboring communities)  in accordance with the environmental regulation in place. The primary source is believed to have been the ash ponds – 100% of which have been closed by removal.   

IDEM and EPA approved the cleanup activities as a step toward that goal and will determine what additional steps may be necessary to ensure the long-term safety of the community and the environment.   

Assessment activities conducted to date indicate that made land on the north and west sides of the Michigan City Generating Station is composed of native natural material (sand, clay, soil, etc.) mixed with roughly 5 to 18 percent coal combustion residual material. Made land is very common along the shores of Lake Michigan and in many other parts of the country. NIPSCO provides IDEM with groundwater quality monitoring data on a regular basis, in addition to other assessment activities required by IDEM.  

At this time, IDEM and EPA have not indicated that additional cleanup work, beyond what has been completed, is needed on the Michigan City property. 

And, although the future intended use of the Michigan City Generating Station property has not yet been determined, IDEM and EPA will help define what environmental work, if any, may be required in the future and NIPSCO will remain responsible for addressing any adverse environmental impacts it caused.

Industrial activities at the site began in the late 1800s with mining and removal of dune sand until about 1920 – largely for the process of glass manufacturing. During and after that activity, the property served as a loading and storage area for commodities that were transferred to and from rail cars and lake-going transport vessels, including coal. Other industrial activities included the construction and maintenance of roadways, rail bed and tracks, and the operation and maintenance of heavy industrial equipment.  

NIPSCO acquired the property in 1925, started construction by 1929, and began generating electricity in 1931 – which was the company’s first electric generating station. Facility expansion in the 1930s required the installation of sheet piling along Trail Creek and for Lake Michigan. From the 1930s until the 1960s, filling behind these barriers created “made land.” Portions of the facility were built upon this made land. This type of shoreline expansion was a fairly common practice along the heavily industrialized southern part of Lake Michigan and across many areas of the Great Lakes. 

Assessment activities conducted to date indicate that made land on the north and west sides of the Michigan City Generating Station is composed of native natural material (sand, clay, soil, etc.) mixed with roughly 5 to 18 percent coal combustion residual material. Made land is very common along the shores of Lake Michigan and in many other parts of the country. NIPSCO provides IDEM with groundwater quality monitoring data on a regular basis, in addition to other assessment activities required by IDEM.