An Iowa Falls Company has agreed to pay a civil penalty for illegally burning waste.
The Iowa Attorney General’s office announced that McDowell & Sons Contractors will pay $43,000 after admitting to improperly disposing of waste from October 2016 to May of 2017. The Iowa DNR received an anonymous complaint the company was burning railroad ties in a pit on the company’s property in Hardin County.
A DNR investigator found a smoldering burn pile that included a power pole, plastic tile, vinyl floor tile and a hydraulic cylinder. Company co-owner Rick McDowell admitted that the company had put waste from a power-line construction project into the pit to burn.
The DNR says there was some 1,350 tons of solid waste that was improperly handled.