Field Office Compliance - Assistance

Assistance ID - 51004
Canadian Pacific Mason City Rail Yard, Mason City - 311913392
Mason City, IA 50401
Cerro Gordo County

FO 2

Report
File Name File Type File Date Note
Comments
8/9/2012 Dean Hess stopped into the office and asked about the quality of fill dirt for his property at the corner of Monroe and 15th Street SW in Mason City. He reports that Dean Snyder Construction is planning to build a substantial structure at the Canadian Pacific Rail Yard (east of Wendy’s Restaurant), and they are looking for a home for 200 truckloads of soon-to be excavated soils. He showed me some soil testing results which indicate that there are petroleum products present in the soil. The testing company compared the results to the LUST cleanup criteria and implied that since it was below those criteria it would be OK to use as offsite fill. I explained to Mr. Hess that the standards to which the results were compared represent the concentrations below which DNR felt it was acceptable to leave in the subsurface at a leaking underground storage tank site, and should not necessarily be construed as an approval to use as fill dirt at any particular site. I further clarified that the soil in question was likely not from a LUST, rather it was probably a portion of the soil that went through low-temperature thermal desorption as part of the fueling yard remedy some years ago, and that there were no published standards for off-site uses of soil of that type. I indicated that if he wanted “DNR approval” to use this as offsite fill at his property, we could take a look at it and possibly render an opinion after due consideration. Mr. Hess decided that he did not want this soil brought to his property. I will bring this matter up with Central Office because finding a home for this soil will likely be an ongoing issue. DAVID MILLER
State of Iowa DNR Home Site Policy
Leading Iowans in caring for our natural resources
Version: 2.3.2.24780