DOJ reaches settlement with cheese maker

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Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced Wednesday the Wisconsin Department of Justice reached a settlement agreement of $45,000 with Green Bay-based BelGioioso Cheese Inc.

The state had filed suit in Dane County Circuit Court claiming the cheese-making company violated its Wisconsin
 Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit and committed land spreading
 violations.

BelGioioso Cheese reportedly operated five cheese-making facilities in northeastern Wisconsin. It allegedly violated individual 
permit terms at one of the facilities and violated general 
permit terms at another facility. The alleged violations included “land spreading industrial dairy waste too close to and into a drainage way, spreading on saturated soils, runoff to a wetland, winter spreading on
sites not approved for the winter months, and failure to report 
noncompliance.”

The claims were based on inspections triggered by 
hotline complaints at various locations in Manitowoc and Oconto
 counties, according to the DOJ.

In response to the lawsuit, BelGioioso Cheese reportedly retained consultants and took 
steps to minimize its land spreading activities. As part of the settlement, BelGioioso agreed to implement
 a comprehensive wastewater management plan for all of its 
facilities. The management plan will enable BelGioioso Cheese to stay in 
compliance, according to a news release from Van Hollen’s office.

BelGioioso Cheese further agreed to construct 
a wastewater treatment plant, to be approved by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, in order to comply with its 
permit.

The plant is estimated to cost $1.5 
million.

The parties signed a stipulation last month regarding the settlement. It was approved by Dane County Judge Amy Smith. Smith incorporated the settlement in the court’s judgment Wednesday.