Iowa’s Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) voted unanimously on May 22 to refer a March UAN spill (GM March 29, p. 29; March 15, p. 1) to the Iowa Attorney General for enhanced enforcement, according to reports in the Iowa Capital Dispatch. DNR’s own administrative fines are capped at $10,000, but the Attorney General can seek more.
NEW Cooperative on March 11 notified the DNR of the release from its Red Oak, Iowa, facility. The cooperative, which said it worked quickly to mitigate the damage, did not challenge the Iowa Department of Nature Resources (DNR) referral to the EPC (GM May 10, p. 30), according to the Dispatch, which also reported that an assistant attorney general indicated the office would pursue the case.
The product was discharged into a drainage ditch, then into the East Nishnabotna River. The latest information is that a valve on a clogged fertilizer line was left open over the weekend. The line then became unclogged and released some 265,000 gallons of UAN-32, which killed almost all the fish and aquatic creatures downstream for about 60 miles.
DNR described the spill as one of the worst river contamination incidents in the state’s history, noting that it was deadly to aquatic life until it reached the Missouri River and was diluted by the larger water flow.