C6-Zero pays $106K for employee safety violations

In December 2022, a chemical explosion occurred at the Marengo plant

A start-up shingle recycling company accused of skirting regulations and endangering its workers — ultimately leading to an explosion that injured nine workers — has paid an outstanding fine for workplace violations.

C6-Zero agreed more than a year ago to pay a $95,700 fine to the Iowa Occupational Health and Safety Administration, which documented 15 workplace violations at the company’s Marengo facility following an explosion and fire in December 2022. When the company initially failed to pay, the Iowa Department of Inspection, Appeals and Licensing sued the company.

That led to a district court order in September 2023 to pay a fine and interest at 10 percent per year. Last week, “due to the persistent investigation of this matter,” C6-Zero paid nearly $106,000, the inspection department said.

“The company may still face consequences from other authorities,” the department said in a statement to The Gazette.

A C6-Zero spokesman said on Tuesday that he would no longer represent the company.

Until recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had overseen the cleanup. In a June letter, the agency noted that waste released in the December 2022 explosion “was properly disposed of.” Last week, the EPA said it had ended its oversight of the cleanup.

It is unclear what further action the agency will take. The EPA inspected the facility for Clean Air Act violations but declined to release the results of its investigation.

“EPA does not discuss specifics of potential enforcement actions,” said Kellen Ashford, an EPA spokesman.

Regulators plan to evaluate the situation and resume litigation with the company, which has been put on hold while the EPA oversees the cleanup, said Tammie Krausman, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The department issued an emergency order days after the incident that was intended to address immediate threats to public health and the environment but included potential monetary penalties.

“The DNR reserves the right to impose, or request that the Attorney General pursue, civil penalties for the violations listed in this emergency order, as well as any other violations that have not yet been discovered,” the order states.

Last year, the department sued C6-Zero for more than $1.5 million, seeking to cover the cost of damaged equipment for firefighters and others who responded to the accident, as well as the cost of removing contaminated water from a drainage basin near the scene.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources dismissed the lawsuit in May after C6-Zero’s insurance company paid about $1.4 million in a settlement, according to court documents.