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Mississippi River - Burlington River Terminal

Henderson County

On April 29 and April 30, 1999, Burlington River Terminal Inc. (Burlington) released approximately 1,685 tons of 32% urea ammonium nitrate solution into the Mississippi River while off-loading a barge. Mussels in the Mississippi River were expected to have been impacted. Further investigation revealed that a significant number of dead fish appeared downstream from the release site.

NRDA action was taken by the Illinois Natural Resource Trustees. Burlington agreed to compensate the public for losses related to the release. The matter was settled in May of 2001.

A compensatory project involved supporting the establishment of monetary values for freshwater mussels. NRDA funds contributed to the reference publication “Inve​stigation and Monetary Values of Fish and Freshwater Mussel Kills”, Southwick and Loftus, editors 2003. For more information on investigations and monetary values of fish and mussels, please visit the American Fisheries website at http://www.fisheries.org.​

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