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State and federal environmental regulators want Regency-related companies to clean up messes they have left at a Polk County business that recycles construction and demolition debris and at a Dallas County land development.

Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Services Inc. is appealing a decision by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to rescind permits related to its efforts to recycle and sell construction debris.

Environmental Reclamation’s woes may be tied to a market for recycled material that softened; if in fact it ever was as vibrant as Regency leaders had hoped.

The recycling business and a previous partner have been named in separate lawsuits that seek payment for or the return of equipment and machinery that is used to process construction debris.

Remnants of the business are on display for travelers along Interstate 80 east of Des Moines, where 62,000 cubic tons of debris were dumped after being rejected at the Metro Waste Authority landfill in eastern Polk County and, apparently, by potential processors.

At current Metro Waste Authority landfill fees, it would cost $981,000 to dispose of the debris.

In 2004, when Environmental Reclamation was in its infancy and operating under a different name, the Metro Waste Authority had agreed to accept the construction and demolition for free to use as cover material.

Also at the time, authority officials had cautioned the company about the viability of additional markets, including composters and companies that could burn the waste product as a biofuel, said Tom Hadden, executive director of the Metro Waste Authority.

That agreement soured when Environmental Reclamation could not deliver the material in what amounted to a soil-like quality, he said.

“We tried to say, ‘Be wary, there’s no guarantee that it’s going to work and there are going to be problems,'” Hadden said. “But, people do what they’re going to do.”

Hadden also noted that at the time the Metro Waste Authority was considering its own facility to process construction and demolition debris.

“We were looking at setting up a facility at the landfill and that way we could control what came in and what went out,” he said.

In addition to an operating permit for the Scott Avenue facility, Environmental Reclamation also received a beneficial use permit from the DNR.

The plan was to use the processed debris as fill at the site of an abandoned truck stop at I-80 exit 143 in Bondurant.

However, the Iowa DNR intervened when it determined that the material being delivered to the site didn’t measure up to Environmental Reclamation’s claims that it would consist of largely inert material.

“The big issue with (construction and demolition material) is that you’re not going to get a consistent level of materials. What went to the Bondurant site was not the same as what we were told it would be,” said Chad Stobbe, of the DNR’s energy and waste management bureau.

The DNR served notice in April that it planned to revoke the operating and special benefit permits issued to Environmental Reclamation.

That issue is scheduled for an August hearing before the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, a panel of administrative law judges that could mediate the controversy, said DNR attorney Jon Tack.

Tack said the state also is negotiating with Environmental Reclamation’s lawyers over an outstanding $448,000 state loan for improvements to the Scott Avenue facility.

Hadden noted that Environmental Reclamation was on to a “good concept,” but they appeared to be overwhelmed by the amount of debris that was hauled to the Scott Avenue location.

“This isn’t uncommon for these types of businesses to have these challenges,” he said.

Neither Environmental Reclamation nor Regency officials responded to interview requests.

U.S. EPA targets a Regency project

In West Des Moines, Regency’s Michael’s Landing community development is the target of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order to correct storm water runoff that has carried sediment to the Raccoon River and a tributary of Sugar Creek.

In January, the EPA issued a finding of violation and order for compliance against Michael’s Landing LLC, the Regency company that was developing the property.

Inspectors noted that a steep slope was devoid of vegetation and was not stabilized, that ditches were not stabilized, that silt fences were overtopped and that 34 separate silt fences had failed 10 of 17 weekly inspections from January to May 2007.

Michael’s Landing was in violation of the Clean Water Act, which requires developers to control storm water runoff on projects larger than five acres, the agency said.

“We are working with them currently in a cooperative manner,” said Kristina Kemp, an EPA attorney.Both the EPA and DNR share responsibility for enforcing provisions of the Clean Water Act, Kemp noted, with the federal agency currently taking the lead on storm water.

“On clean water inspections, right now the EPA has a wet weather priority which includes storm water,” she said. “Since we do have that priority, we are routinely conducting inspections.”

Violations at Michael’s Landing were noted by EPA inspections and, on at least one occassion, by the developer’s own inspector, according to the order for compliance.