Wisconsin Cheese Group LLC, a Green County cheese manufacturer, has received a probation sentence and $237,500 fine for violating the Clean Water Act, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
The company reportedly pleaded guilty in the case on June 4. U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita M. Boor on Thursday also sentenced the company to make improvements to its facility and work with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on future permitting issues.
The Clean Water Act stipulates that an industrial user of a publicly owned treatment plant is committing a crime if it negligently discharges pollutants in a manner that causes a municipality to violate a federally enforceable wastewater permit.
In 2022, between June 6 and Nov. 5, Wisconsin Cheese Group disrupted Monticello’s treatment works on 19 days as a result of releasing untreated wastewater from its cheese manufacturing plant into the municipal sewer.Â
The company exceeded the biological oxygen demand limit in its own permit by high margins and, at the time, did not have specific controls to ensure compliance with its permit or adequately train employees on wastewater management.
