Burns Harbor News

In the first of four meet-and-greet sessions this summer hosted by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Superintendent Constantine Dillon faced criticism Wednesday on the issues of road closures, Cowles Bog restoration, and sign removals, but said he was eager to look into the complaints.

Left for dead a decade ago, this 50-year-old facility on the shores of Lake Michigan has been rejuvenated thanks to an unusual experiment by its owner, Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal.

Neighboring residents implored the Town Council on Wednesday to shut it down after describing hours of continuous gunfire, loud noise, window-rattling booms and fears that a child playing in their own yard could be injured.

Ten months after a public hearing on the request was held, the Burns Harbor Town Council rejected ArcelorMittal's petition for 10 more years of tax abatement.

ArcelorMittal announced the commissioning of a $60 million state-of-the-art heat-treat line at its 160-inch plate facility in Burns Harbor, Ind.

Rollers guide a steel plate into the natural gas-fired hardening furnace at the newly revamped Plate Heat Treat Facility at the ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor plant in Burns Harbor, Ind., Thursday, May 3, 2012.