(Red Oak) The investigation continues into the liquid nitrogen fertilizer discharged from a Red Oak’s above-ground storage tank valve. Authorities say 265,000 gallons of 32-percent solution discharged into a drainage ditch into the East Nishnabotna River.
John Lorenzen, a Fisheries Biologist from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Office in Lewis, is the lead investigator. Lorenzen tells KSOM/KS95 News the fish kill is extensive. He says the leak was discovered last Monday morning. By then, the chemical had been in the river the entire weekend.
Lorenzen says the only live fish in the 50-mile stretch from Red Oak to the Missouri State line was at the Hamburg bridge actively dying; other than that, there were no live fish in the river. Lorensen is hopeful there is enough water in tributaries flowing into the East Nishnabotna River for some fish to take refuge.
In the next several days, Lorenzen will begin putting together a report on the number of fish killed in the 50-mile stretch of the East Nishnabotna. Later, when the turtle population digs out of hibernation, Lorenzen, the turtle, and other marine life death loss will be tabulated.
