July 13, 2026 · Lake · Monroe · Union

Gary Works EPA Lawsuit, Bloomington Water Rates Up 48%, and the Reshoring Test Indiana Suppliers Need to Run

The Gary Works EPA lawsuit, a 48% Bloomington commercial water rate hike, and a reshoring test every Indiana supplier should run before committing.

Daniel BurkePublished every day

A federal lawsuit filed June 22 is pushing EPA toward action on U.S. Steel's Gary Works air permit, and the Gary Works EPA lawsuit lands in the middle of Nippon Steel's $3.1 billion investment cycle in Lake County. At the same time, Bloomington commercial and industrial water customers are looking at increases up to 48% starting August 1, and a Union County zinc-caster just became a national case study in what reshoring can and cannot deliver. Three developments, all setting cost floors that will outlast the current budget year.

01Statewide

Gary Works EPA Lawsuit Puts a Regulatory Clock on Northwest Indiana Steel

Four organizations, the Environmental Law & Policy Center, the Environmental Integrity Project, Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, and Just Transition Northwest Indiana, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against EPA and Administrator Lee Zeldin. The claim is procedural: EPA missed its mandatory 60-day Clean Air Act deadline to act on a July 2025 petition challenging IDEM's Title V permit renewal for Gary Works.

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02Statewide

Bloomington Commercial Water Rates Rise Up to 48% on August 1

Per the June 26 IURC settlement order, City of Bloomington Utilities is approved to raise drinking water rates effective August 1, with the 48% ceiling applying to commercial and industrial customers. This is a deliberate cost-of-service rebalancing, CBU's consultants argued large users had been underpaying relative to actual consumption.

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03Union

Stateline Industries and the Reshoring Test Every Indiana Supplier Should Run

WS Game Company CEO Jonathan Silva took a seven-figure tariff bill in 2025 on Chinese-made board games and spent more than a year building a domestic supply chain for a Monopoly Americana edition. Stateline Industries LLC in Liberty, Indiana, Union County, fabricated the custom metal tokens using zinc casting and plastic injection.

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Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: Does the Gary Works EPA lawsuit put our steel supply contracts at risk?
A: Not immediately, but the Gary Works EPA lawsuit could trigger an 18-month chain of EPA objection and IDEM permit revision that constrains blast furnace operations. If you buy steel from or ship through Gary Works, start scenario-planning alternate supply now rather than waiting for each step to resolve.

Q: How much are Bloomington commercial and industrial water rates going up, and when?
A: City of Bloomington Utilities is approved to raise drinking water rates effective August 1, with increases up to 48% for commercial and industrial customers under the June 26 IURC settlement order. The larger risk is the city's option to exit IURC jurisdiction, which would remove your primary avenue to contest the next rate case.

Q: A customer wants us to re-shore a component, how do we know if we can actually do it?
A: Separate "no domestic supplier exists" from "no domestic supplier exists at commercial volume and price," because those are different problems with different answers. Check whether the tooling and capacity are actually here, and whether the end product's margin can absorb a cost premium of roughly two times.

Q: Which proceedings can we actually influence right now?
A: The Gary Works case is in federal court, but IDEM comment periods and IURC rate cases are open to parties with standing. Identify which ones you can enter through your trade association or directly, and get in before the orders close.

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