If you’re a trucker hauling a messy or hazardous load, better make sure it’s secured. The City of Peru will now impose fines and costs for any transport that requires cleanup.

Monday, the Peru City Council voted unanimously to adopt a “spiller pays” ordinance. The new ordinance adopts a two-pronged approach to curb dangerous spills.

First, it imposes fines of $100 to $750 per accident with triple damages for spills resulting from willful and wanton conduct. Second, the city now has the authority to recover cleanup costs at $70 per hour when city personnel are called to a scene and $250 per hour for each city vehicle summoned.

Fire Chief Jeff King said the ordinance isn’t so much aimed at motorists who spill gasoline at the pumps – though he does want drivers not to wander away while filling their tanks – as at companies that transfer potentially hazardous loads and who do not take sufficient precautions to secure those loads.

“Let’s say we have a significant train derailment or a semi tanker that comes through town, rolls over, and spills its contents out,” King said. “Now, the cleanup isn’t on the taxpayers of Peru – it’s on whoever spilled it.”