Eldon C. Stutsman, Inc. agrees to pay $16,500 total for two infractions
KCJJ Staff
03/03/19
A Hills company has been ordered to pay several thousand dollars in fines for a pair of infractions related to the demolition and burning of a former lumberyard.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, in two consent orders, has ordered Eldon C. Stutsman Inc. to pay $16,500 in fines for the infractions.
The fines stem from Stutsman’s demolition of the company’s former lumberyard on Oak Street. The DNR states in the orders Stutsman demolished the lumberyard on Aug. 27 of last year and moved the rubble to its land on Oakcrest Hill Road, located about a quarter-mile south of Hills Elementary School.
The next day a DNR environmental specialist saw a plume of black smoke coming from the property and checked on the cause, finding the company was burning the waste from the demolition. The DNR says “a smoldering burn pile” was located containing concrete, sheet metal, wood scraps, other rubble and “extensive amounts of ash indicating a large amount of material” had already been burned.
The environmental specialist estimated a total of 336 tons of material had been burned by Stutsman, while the company later provided proof it had salvaged and recycled 6.5 tons of metal from that pile and had taken more than 101 tons more to the Iowa City landfill.
The DNR says the company never applied for – nor received – an asbestos inspection prior to the demolition of the building or the burning of the material.
As part of the order – which was mediated between the DNR and Stutsman – the company has agreed to pay $6500 for the asbestos regulations violation and $10,000 for failing to take the waste to the landfill. Stutsman also agreed to waive its right to an appeal.
Stutsman has 30 days to remove any of the waste left on the property and pay the fines.