Iowa’s attorney general has reached a settlement with a southwest Iowa business for a fertilizer spill that killed hundreds of thousands of fish.
The spill originated at NEW Cooperative in Red Oak when a valve on a fertilizer tank was left open during a weekend in early March of last year. Over 250,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen wound up in the East Nishnabotna River. Iowa officials estimate more than 750,000 fish were killed downstream. The Nishnabotna River drains into the Missouri River and the Missouri Department of Conservation reported a near total fish kill in the roughly 10-mile stretch in northwest Missouri…