Buena Vista County approves New Cooperative ammonia tank near Storm Lake

Buena Vista County supervisors approved New Cooperative’s plan for a 90,000-gallon anhydrous ammonia tank just outside Storm Lake’s city limits, putting a major fertilizer storage project at the center of local safety planning. The tank would sit at 6135 South Highway 71, a corridor county officials flagged as especially sensitive because of traffic, crash risk and the possibility that a leak could force shelter-in-place orders, evacuations or road closures depending on the wind.

The county board voted after a public hearing that focused on both farm demand and public safety. New Cooperative said it recently bought the site and wants the tank to support seasonal fertilizer needs for area farmers. Frank Huseman, the Fort Dodge-based operations manager for New Cooperative, told supervisors the project still must clear state and county oversight before construction can begin. He described the tank as a heavy-duty pressure vessel similar to large propane storage tanks and said it had previously been used at a Florida facility.

New Cooperative, headquartered in Fort Dodge, operates across roughly 85 Iowa locations and serves about 12,000 member-owners. Huseman said the company favors one large tank instead of several smaller ones because fewer valves and fittings could mean fewer leak points. He also said the cooperative trains employees and works with local responders at every location, a point that mattered as supervisors weighed the tank’s size and the consequences of a release.

Public safety concerns dominated much of the discussion. Buena Vista County Emergency Management Coordinator Amy Barritt said the proposal falls under federal EPA Risk Management Program requirements because of the amount of hazardous material involved. EPA guidance requires facilities covered by the rule to revise risk management plans every five years, and offsite consequence analysis includes both a worst-case release scenario and an alternative release scenario. EPA materials also say facilities with more than 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia must develop a hazard assessment, a prevention program, an emergency response program and submit a risk management plan.

The county and the cooperative also discussed fencing, security cameras, gate access, signage and possibly speed limit changes around the site. After closing the hearing, supervisors approved the request. New Cooperative still needs a permit from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, which requires a field inspector to approve the site, local city or county approval before construction and detailed site plans, plumbing diagrams, pier diagrams and proof of approval before work can begin. Huseman said that process could allow a July start, but the tank cannot move forward until those state steps are complete.