Keokuk is looking to benefit from a penalty to a local company.
Roquette America must pay a $4.1-million civil penalty over alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the company’s pollutant discharge permit.
Mayor Tom Marion says he will ask the EPA to give half of the money to Keokuk.
“We probably will be turned down,” says Marion, “but you don’t get unless you ask. There is a 30 day public comment period and so I am filing something to get ahold of (the EPA) and doing that.”
Marion’s request is based on the fact that the polluting occurred in Keokuk.
He says the money could help pay for the separation of the city’s combined sanitary and storm-water sewer system.
Marion says he made a similar request when the Iowa Attorney General’s Office hit Roquette America with a one-million dollar penalty for air quality violations, but it was unsuccessful.
