On Wednesday, Attorney General Charity Clark announced a $210,500 settlement with St. Albans Creamery over alleged violations of the pretreatment permit at its milk and dairy processing facility in St. Albans.
The Creamery has a pretreatment discharge permit with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources that authorizes it to discharge wastewater that it pre-treats at the dairy into the St. Albans wastewater treatment facility.
But the Agency found that the Creamery violated the permit multiple times from 2021 to 2024. The alleged violations include release of a substantial amount of raw milk and cream into the town’s wastewater facility, which interfered with normal operations and led to contamination of Stevens Brook, which empties into Lake Champlain. Other violations relate to excess flow limits, phosphorous limits and biological oxygen demand, pH levels, and inadequate staffing of the facility.
“We all treasure our environment and natural resources in Vermont. Environmental permits are designed to protect our natural resources,” Attorney General Clark said in a press release. “I am very pleased that St. Albans Creamery has made a commitment to take the necessary actions to prevent further harmful discharges of raw milk wastes.”
Clark filed the proposed settlement in Franklin Superior Court on July 28.
The Creamery committed to pay the state a civil penalty of $210,500 and implement corrective actions. Within 60 days after the order is officially entered by the court, the Creamery will be required to submit a compliance plan to the Department of Environmental Conservation, including a staffing plan to employ sufficient licensed operators.
Dairy Farmers of America, the St. Albans Creamery’s parent company, wrote in a statement that they made significant investments to upgrade the facility’s wastewater treatment system. “The upgraded system is better equipped to effectively manage and treat wastewater in compliance with the facility’s Pretreatment Discharge Permit,” the statement reads.
Dairy Farmers of America declined to comment further on Thursday.
