Nitrogen spill should prompt a review of Iowa regulations

Imagine you live in Red Oak and work at NEW Cooperative. You go home after work on Friday wondering if there wasn't something you forgot to do. It nagged at you for a while but then, oh well, onto other things.

You come back to work on Monday and discover an open valve that was directly responsible for emptying your a big nitrogen tank of an estimated 265,000 gallons of 32% liquid nitrogen into a drainage ditch that leads directly to the East Nishnabotna ("Nish") River which is only feet away.

Let me repeat that amount; 265,000 gallons! That is roughly equivalent to 30 full size semi-trailer tanker loads of nitrogen backed up and poured into the "Nish."

Who is responsible to ensure companies like New Cooperative in Red Oak and others have safeguards in place to prevent these types of disasters?

Indeed, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) has a number of requirements for the farmer or business that is handling liquid fertilizer. Below are just some of the requirements needed to get license from IDALS to operate a business.

"Secondary Containment- Any dry or liquid fertilizer or soil conditioner must be stored properly to protect the waters of the State. Secondary containment is required for any storage location where non-mobile containers are used for fertilizer and soil conditioner storage in total quantities of 5,000 gallons or more.

All liquid fertilizer and soil conditioner storage facilities, except anhydrous ammonia storage facilities, shall be located within a secondary containment structure. The secondary containment structure shall have a volume 20% greater than the volume of the largest storage tank within the area, plus the space occupied by the other tanks in the area.

All loading, unloading, and mixing of liquid fertilizer or liquid soil conditioners, unless performed in the field of application, shall be done within a containment area. The containment area shall be large enough to prevent spillage onto unprotected areas and paved with asphalt, concrete, or other impervious material."

The above IDALS requirements spark the following questions:

1. Was a containment structure in place to handle the spillage of an entire liquid capacity of a tank (plus 20% more) or tanks, and was loading and unloading of product occurring in the containment structure?

2. Should all trailers, filled or empty, be parked on-site within the containment structure?

3. Should all valves should be required to have a fail-safe lock on them when closed?

4. Should all open valves require in-person visual monitoring and backed up by a camera system?

5. Should a fluid leak detection warning system be required, installed and functioning?

6. Are facilities required to provide documented safety procedures and periodic safety training for certified technicians/operators?

7. Are facilities, safety procedures and training reviewed, verified and approved by the appropriate Iowa agency on an annual basis at a minimum?

Will NEW Cooperative be held accountable for the environmental damage that occurred as a result of a breached containment structure (if one existed)? What impact will 265,000 gallons of 32% nitrogen have on the residents downstream? How impacted will private and public water wells become? What recourse does the public have? What if this happens on the Cedar, Wapsipinicon, Maquoketa, Yellow Rivers or other major Iowa rivers?

On behalf of its 7,000 Iowa Izaak Walton League members, who have pledged to respect and protect nature, we demand an immediate review of all regulations and to implement additional regulatory safeguards to prevent these types of disasters from recurring. There should be no grandfathering for facilities that do not meet regulated safeguards.

Dale Braun lives in Cedar Rapids and is president of the Iowa Division of the Izaak Walton League of America.