(HARTFORD) – Attorney General George Jepsen and state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel C. Esty said a stipulated judgment has resolved a 2008 lawsuit against a manufacturing facility in Newington, charged with repeated wastewater discharge violations.

The stipulated judgment, agreed to by the State and the company and approved in Hartford Superior Court Wednesday, concerns Kohler Mix Specialties LLC, a Delaware company registered to do business in Connecticut as a foreign limited liability company. It operates as a specialty dairy manufacturer at 100 Milk Lane in Newington.

The judgment requires Kohler to pay the State a civil penalty of $299,999 -- $100,000 of which will be used for an environmental protection project to be proposed in the town of Newington.

It also imposes a permanent injunction upon the company, prohibiting it from violating its wastewater discharge permit as well as state laws and regulations controlling water pollution.

“This is a good result. It is fair to the company and achieves the State’s goal. The magnitude of the penalty will serve to ensure compliance with the law and deter sources of pollution that affect water quality,” Attorney General Jepsen said.

“I applaud the efforts of DEEP staff to bring these violations to light and the work of the Attorney General’s office to secure an appropriate settlement of this case,” DEEP Commissioner Daniel C. Esty said. “We are also pleased that a portion of the penalties will be used by the town of Newington to advance Low Impact Development (LID) techniques, which help reduce the volume and impact of storm water runoff.”

The Commissioner alleged in his Complaint that, on numerous occasions and in violation of its state-issued permit, Kohler bypassed its wastewater collection and treatment equipment and manually overrode the facility’s pH and other alarm equipment, resulting in the discharge of untreated wastewater created by its food manufacturing process into the sanitary sewer system and in some instances, into a nearby stream.

As part of the judgment, Kohler must submit to DEEP a comprehensive report detailing all the facility and operational improvements it has made to its wastewater collection and treatment system, as well as its compliance with its discharge permit and applicable water pollution laws and regulations. The report, covering January 2008 to the present, must be filed within 60 days.

Assistant Attorneys General Sharon Seligman and Mary Lenehan, with Assistant Attorney General Kimberly Massicotte, Environment department head, handled this case for Attorney General Jepsen.

View the stipulated judgment - (PDF - 1MB)

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