Eastern Iowa farmer accused of leaving fertilizer spill in Burlington
A fertilizer spill in Burlington on Monday gave a greenish color to Hawkeye Creek. (Photo courtesy of Iowa DNR)
A man whose large fertilizer tank ruptured while he was driving in Burlington this week did not report the spill, drove away from it and initially refused to help clean a creek it contaminated, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Jeff Boyer, 65, of rural Oakville, was driving a truck and trailer near Burlington Notre Dame High School about 4:45 p.m. on Monday when a tank he was hauling shifted, broke open and released up to 700 gallons of ammonium phosphate, the DNR said.
Boyer stopped briefly after noticing the spill and then left, according to DNR. He could not be reached to comment for this article.
The spill covered a stretch of roadway of more than 1,000 feet, and an unknown amount of the fertilizer went into a stormwater sewer that flows to Hawkeye Creek, said Robert Berndt, fire marshal for the Burlington Fire Department.
The department was the first to respond to the incident, which was reported by another driver who had been following Boyer when it happened. Firefighters used about 3,000 pounds of absorbent material to clean the spill and to stop more of the fertilizer from going into the creek.
The creek contamination did not cause an apparent fish kill, said Anthony Kerker, an environmental specialist for the DNR, but it discolored the creek up to about a mile away from the spill site.
Boyer “pretty much refused” to remedy the problem as required by state rules, which might have included pumping contaminated water out of the creek bed, Kerker said.
The city eventually decided to flush the creek on Wednesday with about 200,000 gallons of water from a hydrant to dilute the contamination, Kerker said. The creek flows into the Mississippi River.
“City staff have been monitoring it closely,” Kerker said. “Still no signs of dead fish or other aquatic life.”
The city plans to bill Boyer for cleanup, and he will likely face a separate penalty from the DNR, Kerker said.
The Burlington Police Department also anticipates it will cite Boyer for at least one traffic violation, said Sgt. Chad Zahn, a spokesperson for the department. He declined to speculate what that might be.
Boyer owns cropland east of Oakville, about 20 miles north of Burlington, according to county records. He also operates a livestock confinement with about 1,600 swine, DNR records show.
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