The Iowa Department of Natural Resources recently fined a manure hauler for a manure spill that resulted from a train collision in Marion County.
The crash happened in June 2023, when an employee of Magnum Custom Hauling, of South English, was transporting up to 6,000 gallons of manure in Marion County. Employee Deal Keasling was operating a tractor that pulled a manure spreader on a gravel road south of Pleasantville when he approached a railway and noticed a train, according to a DNR order. When Keasling saw that he wasn’t going to be able to stop he starting floored his vehicle. There is a bend in the road at the railway intersection and wooded areas nearby that might have obscured Keasling’s view of the train, which struck the manure spreader. Keasling’s certification to handle the manure had expired, the order said.
No one was injured, but an unspecified amount of manure went into nearby Coon Creek. Magnum and Keasling were ordered to pay a $4,975 fine.
Photo Credit – Iowa DNR