Cleveland-Cliffs Inc
CLF
Materials
2
exclusion reasons
1 theme
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc is screened out under 2 exclusion reasons spanning 1 issue category.
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. It is a statement of values.
EPA / DOJ / Environmental Law & Policy Center — Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF); August 2019 discharge of ammonia and cyanide wastewater into East Branch of Little Calumet River (Lake Michigan tributary) at Burns Harbor, IN steel mill; killed thousands of fish, closed Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore beaches, threatened drinking water; $3M civil penalty; consent decree April 2022 requiring new ammonia treatment systems
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., a major integrated iron ore mining and steel producer, has accumulated significant environmental penalties and faces ongoing litigation for toxic contamination. ViolationTracker documents a $3 million EPA penalty for water pollution in 2022 and a prior $3.45 million settlement from 2004. In October 2023, the company agreed to a $100 million settlement with the EPA and the state of Michigan for alleged Clean Air Act violations at its Dearborn, Michigan, facility, where it reported releasing over one million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air in 2021.
The company's environmental liabilities extend beyond air emissions. The Ohio Attorney General filed a lawsuit in March 2026 alleging Cleveland-Cliffs mishandled radioactive equipment and waste from oil and gas operations. Separate ongoing litigation in Kentucky, filed in April 2022, alleges violations of state hazardous waste regulations. This pattern of enforcement actions across multiple states and media—air, water, and hazardous waste—demonstrates systemic failures in environmental management at its industrial facilities.
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