(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Sierra Club Iowa is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the large fertilizer spill on the East Nishnabotna River that killed thousands of fish. Chapter Director Pam Mackey-Taylor says they sent a letter with the request. “We’re asking that the Environmental Protection Agency which is federal government agency pick up the investigation of what happened and initiate criminal and serious civil charges related to the spill,” she says. Mackey-Taylor says if the issue only goes through the state civil process there would be a maximum 10-thousand dollar penalty and the cost of the dead fish.

“It’s a little bit of a long drawn out process. We feel that this is serious enough given that it’s 60 mile stretch of the river. It’s in two states, massive amount of fertilizer,” Macky-Taylor says. “And we think that it needs to be stepped up and gone through the civil as well as the criminal courts to get resolution.” The D-N- R reports more than 749-thousand fish were killed from the fertilizer spill at the NEW Cooperative near Red Oak in Montgomery County March 11th. The spill killed nearly all the fish in an almost 50-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna River into Missouri. “They said that this is one of the largest kills of fish in Iowa. There are a few spills that are larger, but no we haven’t heard of anything this large for some time,” she says. She says the company should be held responsible.

New Cooperative spill

“Obviously, there was nobody around doing any kind of surveillance or survey, or monitoring of what was happening. No monitors on the equipment to notify what spills are happening. No guards. And so this is just a flagrant violation that just needs to be fixed. And it’s more than just a simple little accident,” Mackey-Taylor says. She says Missouri wildlife officials believe some 40-thousand fish were killed in their state.