The Iowa County Department of Secondary Roads was sent a Consent Order by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for illegal open dumping, open burning, and improper solid waste disposal.

According to the DNR, it received an anonymous report of the ICDSR burning solid waste adjacent to the Interstate 80 offramp to M Avenue in February of 2019. Following the incident, a DNR officer sent a letter to the Iowa County Engineer Matt Amelon concerning proper disposal methods.

On January 7 of this year, the Iowa County Sheriff’s Department received a report of a fire at around 3:30 a.m. The department received four additional calls throughout that morning.

At around 9:20 a.m. that day, a DNR environmental specialist observed smoke while driving on I-80 and stopped to investigate. They found a large burn pile and several ICDSR personnel at the same location as the 2019 burning. The DNR staff were informed that the county engineer had ordered the burn.

According to the report, Amelon confirmed as much the next day.

The DNR administered the following orders: the roads department must cease all improper disposal, it would bring the site of the burns into regulatory compliance within 30 days, and it would pay a $3,000 fine.

The department was also assessed a total of $4,000 in civil penalties.