The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

August 20, 2009

Ethanol plant admits to violations

By Dan Nienaber

WINNEBAGO — Owners of the ethanol plant in Winnebago have agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and make a $50,000 contribution to benefit Rice Lake after pleading guilty in federal court Wednesday to violating the Clean Water Act.

Corn Plus was charged Aug. 3 after an investigation by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency determined the company, which processes corn into ethanol fuel, had been discharging wastewater into Rice Lake. The discharges, which contained the pollutant biological oxygen, occurred from 2005 through Aug. 10, 2007, a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Authorities from the Faribault County Sheriff’s Department and the MPCA executed a search warrant at the plant Aug. 10, 2007. Several water, fecal, metal and bacteria samples were collected during the search, according to Faribault County court records. At that time, Nancy Miller of the MPCA office in Rochester said the agency had received citizen complaints about polluted water in a ditch near the plant.

The ditch, which is near the Winnebago plant and empties into Rice Lake to the east, had a visible milky and odorous discharge of wastewater several times between October 2006 and June 2007, the search warrant application said. Faribault County deputies included that evidence in their request for the search warrant, which had to be approved by a judge.

During the investigation that followed, authorities determined Corn Plus had discharged the water through a drain on the company’s property, which emptied into the ditch. The company faced a maximum penalty of five years of probation and a $200,000 fine for the misdemeanor charge.

Prior to entering the guilty plea before federal Judge Jeanne Graham, the company agreed to pay a $100,000 fine, according to a news release from John Lundquist, the Minneapolis attorney representing Corn Plus. The company also agreed to make a $50,000 contribution to an environmental project that will benefit Rice Lake and the Winnebago area.

A sentencing date has not been scheduled.



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