(Spirit Lake)– A Dickinson county judge has ordered a Milford man to pay a $5,000 penalty for allegedly violating the “Iowa One Call” law, which resulted in the puncture of an underground pressurized diesel fuel line and fuel leak.
Attorney General Tom Miller alleged that Todd Gonnerman last year installed tile lines without first contacting Iowa One Call. Gonnerman, according to a petition filed Monday, failed to have underground facilities located and marked. According to the petition, Gonnerman’s tiling equipment hit an underground diesel fuel line in two locations, resulting in the release of fuel to a tile line, a stream and a farm pond.
In a consent degree filed Wednesday in Dickinson County District Court, Judge David Lester ordered Gonnerman to pay $5,000. The judge also ordered that Gonnerman cannot excavate in the future without first contacting Iowa One Call, and must follow the Iowa One Call law.
According to Miller’s petition, Gonnerman installed drainage tile on his property near Milford during the fall of 2010. On June 9th, 2011, a local citizen observed a sheen on a creek and smelled diesel fuel near Gonnerman’s property. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the owner of the pipeline, NuStar Energy L.P., of San Antonio, Texas, determined the source of the leak. The company shut down the 6.625-inch diameter pipeline, repaired the leak, and contained and cleaned the released diesel fuel. Gonnerman cooperated with the containment and cleanup.
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office says Gonnerman admitted excavating without first contacting Iowa One Call, a violation of state law.
