DNR fines companies for littering, fish kill, excessive air and wastewater emissions 

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is levying thousands of dollars in fines against companies that violated various environmental regulations. 

Consent orders published by DNR show a landfill in Winnebago County was fined the department’s maximum of $10,000 in multiple instances for failing to contain litter. An iron foundry in Jefferson County also received the maximum administrative penalty for failing to test air emissions, as did an agricultural rendering facility for discharging wastewater to the city with pollutants above its permitted amounts. 

DNR also entered a consent agreement and fined the agricultural business Chem Gro for spilling a diluted pesticide mixture in June that resulted in a fish kill of 1,792 fish in an unnamed creek near Houghton. Chem Gro has agreed to pay a $5,000 administrative penalty and $2,157 in fish restitution.

Landfill

DNR published three consent orders with Central Disposal Systems, Inc., of Winnebago County for a violation in May 2025 and two incidents in February 2026 where the solid waste landfill was not adequately covered, causing litter outside of working areas and outside of the landfill.

According to the consent orders, DNR had a previous consent order with Central Disposal Systems in March 2025 addressing violations of daily cover requirements. Landfills are required to have six inches of daily “cover” or earthen materials that go on top of the solid waste materials. 

In May 2025, the landfill ceased operations due to high wind and DNR observed “off-site litter along the ditches and fields” near the landfill several days later. DNR informed the company it was in violation of the consent order to apply daily cover and control litter. Central Disposal agreed to a $10,000 administrative penalty. 

In February 2026, DNR received a complaint from a neighbor of the landfill that alleged litter from the landfill was entering his yard and cattle barn. DNR investigated and reported off-site litter in fields and ditches near the landfill and “an extensive amount” of litter on-site but away from the working area of the landfill. DNR fined Central Disposal $10,000 administrative fees for violations on Feb. 18 and Feb. 20. 

Air emissions

HyCast Foundry, an iron casting foundry in Fairfield signed a consent order with DNR agreeing to test the emissions on certain furnace stacks, submit the test results to DNR and to pay a $10,000 penalty. 

According to the consent order, DNR alleged HyCast gained an economic benefit by operating the plant while in violation of National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, or NESHAP, requirements and delaying stack testing.

The consent order explains that DNR requested information from HyCast, which bought the facility in 2024 and began operations in 2025, about emissions testing on induction furnace stacks at the facility. 

According to the consent agreement, HyCast told DNR it would inform the department and complete stack testing prior to restarting the equipment, but a DNR inspection of the facility several months later revealed the stacks were in operation. 

At the beginning of the year, DNR issued a notice of violation for operating the furnaces in violation of the NESHAP permit, and required HyCast to test the stack emissions by March 2026. 

By May, HyCast revealed it had tested the stacks and that the emissions were above the emission standards, but wouldn’t share the results with DNR. Finally, in June, HyCast submitted the results which showed particulate matter results in excess of 8 pounds per ton. The limit for an existing iron and steel foundry, according to code cited in the consent order, is 0.8 pounds of particulate matter per ton of metal charged. 

The company is required to conduct stack testing by Nov. 1 and submit results to DNR, in addition to paying the fine.

Rendering facility fined for wastewater discharges

Central Bi-Products, a pork rendering facility in Estherville owned by Farmers Union Industries, agreed to a $10,000 administration penalty from the department for violating its agreement with the city wastewater treatment plant by discharging excessive volumes or quantities of wastewater. 

According to the consent order, Central Bi-Products has been served a number of notices of violation from DNR since 2021 for the same issue. 

In August 2025, the consent order reports that construction at the facility led to a broken wastewater line. Repairs to the line resulted in a backup of wastewater in the facility’s basement, which caused some wastewater to leak into a tile drainage line running underneath the facility. 

The tile line discharged to a neighboring pond, where DNR staff observed “a white greasy film” and a “foul, rotten odor.” Central Bi-Products produces bone, blood meal and yellow grease, according to the consent order. 

DNR said that after the discharge into the pond, the company made “significant efforts to address the release.” As part of the consent order, the company is required to submit the results of an engineer’s investigation into the sources of the discharge. 

In March 2026, DNR again issued a notice of violation to the company for its discharge of wastewater to the city treatment plant and for “the prohibited discharge to a Water of the State.” 

DNR said the facility’s “ongoing non-compliance” and “failure” to implement the necessary pretreatment upgrades and to “comply with treatment agreement limits risks” has “compromised” the City of Estherville wastewater treatment facility.

“Such conduct may result in (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit violations and subsequent degradation of water quality, posing a risk to both the receiving water body and public health,” the consent order said. 

Central-Bi Products is required to either comply with its treatment agreement or negotiate higher treatment agreement limits with the city within 30 days of the order, in addition to paying the $10,000 fine.