(Radio Iowa) - The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission is referring an alleged water pollution case to the Iowa Attorney General's office.
Attorney Bradley Adams says Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy is illegally released sludge from its wastewater treatment facility near Council Bluffs into the Missouri River. He says the investigation found orange wastewater discharging from the effluent pipe, orange coloration of the riverbank where the sludge deposits formed, and also orange sludge deposits buildup in the water beneath the pipe. He says SIRE had been trucking the sludge away from the site but wanted to avoid the fees for trucking away the waste. SIRE C-E-O Eric Fobes, says they were trying to avoid the the truck traffic from hauling the material away and it was not a cost savings move.
Fobes says his staff thought the discharge in the river was allowed and that was obviously a mistake. He asked the Commission to not send the case to the Attorney General based on their response. The Commission voted to refer the case to the Attorney General with just two commissioners voting no.