Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced a lawsuit against Global Fiberglass Solutions and its executives, Donald Lilly and Ronald Albrecht, for violations of Iowa’s solid waste laws. Her office accuses GFS of failing to properly dispose of decommissioned wind turbine blades that were stockpiled at multiple locations across Iowa, including in Newton.

In 2017, GFS was contracted by two major wind-turbine companies to cut up, transport, and recycle the blades. Instead, Attorney General Bird accuses the group of letting the approximately 1,300 blades sit in stockpiles for years between the three sites in Newton, Ellsworth, and Atlantic. 

Global Fiberglass Solutions is accused of failing to recycle the blades after the Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued orders calling for cleanup.

In 2022, one of the wind-turbine companies disposed of the abandoned blades at the Ellsworth location. In June 2024, the other company completed clean up of the blades at both the Atlantic and Newton sites.

The lawsuit seeks civil penalties against GFS and its executives.

Read the full lawsuit here. https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/IACIO/2024/09/26/file_attachments/3011234/GFS%20Petition.pdf.