DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — General Motors Corp. has agreed to pay a $75,000 fine for failing to meet deadlines for cleaning up contaminated properly formerly owned by the automaker in Sioux City.
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said in a statement Wednesday that a consent decree signed by Woodbury County District Court Judge Gary Wenell resolves a lawsuit that was filed by his office.
The lawsuit alleged that GM failed to meet several deadlines it had agreed to with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to clean up soil and groundwater contamination at the property in Sioux City.
General Motors no longer owns the site, but the company is obligated under state and federal laws to conduct the long-term cleanup of soil and groundwater contaminants at the site and to prevent contaminated underground water from migrating from the site.
The agreement also prohibited any further violations by the company.
The fine will be used for future environmental protection efforts, such as waste volume reduction and emergency response.
Court documents said GM bought the land in 1980 from Zenith Corp., which had assembled transistor radios there. Zenith had underground storage tanks and used solvents, lacquer thinner and various volatile organic compounds. GM tested and assembled fuel injection auto components at the site until 1993, when environmental assessments were made in anticipation of GM's sale of the property.
Testing has shown that groundwater contamination was found migrating from the site at levels of potential concern to human health, the lawsuit said.