MARENGO, Iowa — A Marengo plant that exploded in December will have to pay over $400,000 as part of an agreement with the state.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced that she was suing the plant, C6-Zero, last month. Bird asked the company and its owner, Howard Bland, for immediate compliance with an emergency order with the Department of Natural Resources, citing threats to public health and the environment as a result of the explosion.
The consent order filed Monday requires C6-Zero to pay $333,580 to EcoSource, LLC, an environmental services agency that examined the plant's property after the incident for pollutants and removed them.
C6-Zero also has to create a trust account and deposit $75,000 into it for any future remediation and assessment work on the property. The company will then have to update the DNR monthly on how much money is left in the account, as well as any outstanding expenses that the account would be used for.
C6-Zero is also required to fulfill the DNR's emergency order, which includes giving the department a list of all the chemicals and substances that the plant had inside it at the time of the explosion. This includes any "trade secret" compounds. The DNR also will be given access to the property for any future inspections.
The company has until early March to come up with an action plan to address the demands in the agreement.
A full copy of the consent order can be found here.