Green County Cheese Manufacturer Sentenced to Probation and $237,500 Fine for Criminally Violating Clean Water Act

MADISON, WIS. - Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Wisconsin Cheese Group, LLC, a company headquartered in Monroe, Wisconsin, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita M. Boor to one-year of probation for violating the Clean Water Act. The company was also ordered to pay a $237,500 fine, to make improvements to its facility, and to engage with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources on future permitting issues. The company pleaded guilty to this charge on June 4, 2026.

It is a crime under the Clean Water Act for an industrial user of a publicly owned treatment works to negligently discharge pollutants in a manner that causes a municipality to violate a federally enforceable wastewater permit. Between June 6, 2022, and November 5, 2022, Wisconsin Cheese Group disrupted the Village of Monticello's treatment works on 19 days due to releases of untreated wastewater from its cheese manufacturing plant into the municipal sewer. The company exceeded the biological oxygen demand (BOD) limit in its own permit by high margins, including multiple discharges that exceeded the limit by more than 1500%. At the time of the discharges, the company did not have specific controls to ensure compliance with its permit and did not adequately train employees on wastewater management.

"The defendant's criminally negligent discharges of untreated industrial wastewater into the publicly owned sewer system disrupted the system on multiple occasions," said Allison Landsman, Special Agent in Charge of the Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) criminal enforcement program in Wisconsin. "Violations of the Clean Water Act can endanger human health, wildlife, and the environment by causing untreated industrial waste and sewage to flow into our rivers and streams. The guilty plea in this case reflects the seriousness of these actions and EPA's commitment to protecting our natural resources and the communities that rely upon them."

Explaining why she found the offense so serious, Judge Boor observed that the violations were "entirely avoidable" with better planning as the company ramped up production at its Monticello plant. Instead, the company "overwhelmed" the local wastewater treatment plant and became a "neighborhood polluter." The judge also faulted the company for a "lackluster" response to its early violations, which allowed the criminal conduct to continue for months. She did commend the company for cooperating with the government's investigation and committing to facility improvements, which will be enforced as conditions of probation.

The charge against Wisconsin Cheese Group was the result of an investigation conducted by the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Stelljes prosecuted this case.