Articles Tagged: Marengo

The cleanup of Marengo is underway, as private contractors -- some paid for by taxpayers -- treat water and remove soil contaminated in a December explosion and fire at C6-Zero.

A December explosion and fire that injured a dozen people and caused a small-scale evacuation in Marengo was caused when an “unknown mechanical failure” ignited flammable air vapor, the State Fire Marshal reported.

In a state dominated by Hy-Vee, Fareway and big box stores, Iowa’s remaining independent grocery stores are pivoting to survive in the minority.

Iowa Homeland Security will pay more than $600,000 to replace firefighting clothing and equipment damaged in a Dec. 8 explosion and fire in Marengo after the company whose plant exploded refused to pay.

Iowa will pay a contractor up to $834,000 to remove toxic “forever chemicals” from water in a 12-million-gallon basin holding runoff from a December explosion and fire in Marengo.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources no longer has a deadline by which C6-Zero must clean up a Marengo explosion site, but is requiring the company to pay more than $400,000 for the work.

State and local regulators will be joined by C6-Zero representatives for a hearing Monday in Iowa County over whether a judge should force the company to comply with an emergency order to clean up the site of a Dec. 8 explosion and fire.

In the seven months before the explosion and fire that injured 15 people and left an environmental mess, Jeff Boeyink -- a partner at Des Moines-based public relations and lobbying firm LS2group and Branstad’s chief of staff from 2010 to 2013 -- wrote to DNR leaders and Marengo officials at least 10 times on behalf of C6-Zero to answer questions, allay concerns and invite officials to tour the site, according to emails obtained by The Gazette.

Besides petroleum products that have leaked from a Marengo explosion site, state regulators also are worried about toxic chemicals from foam used to fight the Dec. 8 blaze.

Company founder Howard Brand III was on regulators’ radar for two years before the explosion in Iowa.

The lawsuit, filed in Iowa County, asks a judge to grant a temporary and permanent injunction to force C6-Zero and owner Howard Brand III to comply with a Dec. 15 emergency order from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, identify all chemicals at the site and allow the DNR access to the facility.

EcoSource, a Des Moines-based firm hired by C6-Zero to assess environmental damage from the Dec. 8 blast, said it wouldn’t be able to finish cleaning up the site until March -- two months later than the Iowa Department of Natural Resources ordered.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources referred C6-Zero to the Attorney General’s Office for legal action this week after the company said it could not meet deadlines for cleaning up the site.

A Marengo company whose workshop exploded and caught fire Dec. 8 failed to meet a state deadline of Friday for filing a report about how owners plan to clean up the area, which state regulators called a “clear threat to public health and the environment.”

The Iowa River does not show signs of pollution from the Dec. 8 blast at a Marengo workshop that had large stores of petroleum products, officials said.