first on decorahnews.com: DNR doesn't have to inform local officials about spills

When a manure spill happened last week on Dry Run Creek southwest of Decorah, Winneshiek County supervisors learned about the spill by reading the story on decorahnews.com.

That's because the Iowa DNR is not legally obligated to notify county officials in the case of a spill--even when county officials ask to be notified.

Winneshiek County supervisors sent a letter in June of 2015 to the DNR's Manchester office, asking to receive notice of any spill that occurred in Winneshiek County.  The DNR rejected the request, stating that, "When responding to spills, this department places the burden of notifying local emergency response officials on the party responsible for the spill."

DNR Manchester Office Supervisor Joe Sanfilippo wrote a letter to Winneshiek County supervisors in 2015, saying there were four reasons for the DNR's policy:

--"First, the spills we deal with are not just the result of manure releases. Spills include the release of hazardous substances to the environment. This can include alcohol from train wrecks...to milk spills from bulk milk haulers. This office received 117 spill reports over the past 12 months.
--Second, we are not first responders. If there is a situation at a spill site that may or has resulted in injury, fire, explosion, etc. we do not want the responsible party to rely on us to call the local fire department, police, utility, ambulance, etc. This would delay those first responders.
--Third, we respond to spills of this nature 24 hours per day, 7 days per week...I am concerned that attempting to contact County Supervisors and Sanitarians across the 15 counties this field office covers would slow down our response time.
--Fourth, many times the county sanitarian, secondary road department, county emergency management, or sheriff's department has knowledge of the spill before DNR is notified."

The DNR has continued its policy of not alerting county officials about spills.