IDEM, ag company resolve fish kill

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November 22, 2009

McGrawsville Feed & Grain told to pay fine and create spill response plan.

By Daniel Human The Kokomo Tribune Sun Nov 22, 2009, 10:53 PM EST

AMBOY — State environmental agencies and a Miami County agricultural company held responsible for a fish kill in 2008 have come to an agreement, representatives from each group said.

According to an agreed order adopted Nov. 4, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management fined McGrawsville Feed & Grain Inc., a bulk fertilizer storage facility, about $10,300 in civil penalties and reimbursements to the state. The company also prepared a spill response plan, per the agreement, in case there is another fertilizer leak.

“It’s resolved; book’s closed,” said the company’s president, Weldon Mast.

In April 2008, about 5,000 gallons of liquid ammonia fertilizer spilled from a rusty hole in a holding tank at McGrawsville Feed & Grain.

The fertilizer leaked into a 1.6-mile stretch of Niger Creek and part of Pipe Creek, killing an estimated 9,300 fish, according to IDEM.

It took about three days to clean up the spill.

In April, IDEM notified the company of violations, including allowing the spill, failing to notify the department within the mandatory two-hour window after employees discovered the spill, not properly maintaining the fertilizer tanks and discharging fertilizer without a valid permit.

In a previous interview, Mast said the company removed the 25,000-gallon, 25-foot-tall tank that caused the spill. The company also removed two others.

Five tanks remain in a 4-foot-tall flood wall. If a tank leaks, the dike is intended to prevent spillover.

The tank that caused the fish kill was too close to the flood wall and the rusted hole was high enough to spill fertilizer over the dike, Mast previously said.

By removing three of the tanks, the company was able to move the remaining five closer to the center to better prevent another spill.

Civil penalties accounted for $8,750 of the total fines. And $1,602.53 was reimbursement to IDEM “for the value of the damage to fish and wildlife,” according to the agreed order.

Phil Bloom, a spokesman for the Department of Natural Resources, said the DNR uses a formula set by the American Fisheries Society to assess the reimbursement amount.

“They put together a list of price values for various fish based on size and species,” Bloom said. “For example, if someone caused a fish kill tomorrow that had some 13-inch sturgeon in it, the price would be $72.38 [per fish]. That’s one of the more expensive fish.”

The 9,300 fish that died in the Niger Creek spill were mostly suckers and shiner minnows. The reimbursement averaged to about 17 cents per fish.

According to IDEM spokesman Barry Sneed, McGrawsville Feed & Grain has 30 days from the agreed order’s adoption date, Nov. 4, to pay the fines. IDEM had not received a payment as of Thursday.

IDEM received the company’s spill response plan, according to Sneed, which the department is reviewing.

• Daniel Human is a Kokomo Tribune staff writer. He can be reached at 765-454-8570 or at daniel.human@kokomotribune.com.

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