HAMPTON, Iowa (Legal Newsline) - Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced a $40,000 order on Friday against the owner of a Latimer salvage yard for allegedly committing storm water discharge, solid waste and hazardous condition violations.
Franklin County District Court Judge DeDra Schroder ordered Jerry Passehl, the owner of The Junkyard, to pay $40,000 in administrative and civil penalties. Schroder also ordered Passehl to bring his facility into compliance with the law.
Passehl allegedly failed to clean up contaminated soil in a timely manner, failed to properly dispose of abandoned appliances, failed to comply with storm water discharge permit requirements, failed to notify the Iowa Department of Natural Resources of hazardous conditions and failed to organize tires so that they could be monitored and counted.
In December 2010, Miller filed a lawsuit against Passehl that alleged the salvage yard owner engaged in multiple environmental violations since 2009.
"These are serious infractions we have alleged," Miller said at the time of the lawsuit. "My office will pursue cases where someone is accused of putting the environment at risk, especially our groundwater."
Passehl allegedly broke environmental laws on his salvage yard as far back as 2003.
In 2009, the DNR issued an administrative order to address the alleged violations.
Schroder reached the decision to issue the order against Passehl after a one-day trial on Sept. 14.
Salvage yard ordered to pay $40K after Iowa AG Miller's action
