Helena fined $36,000 for fertilizer spill

Santa Fe-Helena Chemical Co. is being fined $36,000 by the New Mexico Environment Department for failing to notify the department when fertilizer spilled from a company-owned tank on a county road in Mesquite on Sept. 29. “Helena Chemical disregarded known notification requirements by not reporting the spill,” said NMED Secretary Ron Curry. “The company should have been more responsible in reporting this considering they are operating under an NMED-approved abatement plan for similar fertilizer spills that resulted in groundwater contamination.” According to press reports and an NMED press release, a farmer who bought 500 gallons of liquid fertilizer from the company that day was carrying a company-owned tank containing the fertilizer in his truck. He was outside the plant boundaries when the tank shifted and ruptured when he stopped at a stop sign. The fertilizer was described as UCAN C-17, consisting of 12 percent urea, 37.9 percent hydrated ammonium calcium nitrate double salt, 16 percent ammonium nitrate, and 33.5 percent water. Helena officials could not be contacted, either at the plant or the company headquarters in Collierville, Tenn. The local press said Helena was not aware of the incident until several days later. Crews removed contaminated soil at the site and replaced it with clean fill, and monitoring was supposed to continue. The official account stated that residents notified NMED of the spill and that the company also called in on Oct. 11. The NMED compliance order states the company must determine why the tank ruptured and report that information within 30 days, and must also explain precautions it will take in the future to prevent such a spill from occurring from that tank and other tanks it owns. Helena was in a drawn-out disagreement last year with NMED over whether it was required to obtain a state air quality permit. That resulted in June 2005 in a fine of $233,777 and an order to reduce operating hours. NMED spokeswoman Marissa Stone said the fine was settled that October for $202,500.