Great Lakes Cheese has prior violations of its wastewater permit

FRANKLINVILLE, N.Y. (WIVB) — Ischua Creek in Cattaraugus County has taken a beating.

Great Lakes Cheese in Franklinville discharged toxic, nutrient-rich dairy processing wastewater into the creek on Aug. 26, killing thousands of fish and other wildlife, including a rare eastern Hellbender salamander.

That wasn’t the first time the company polluted the creek.

News 4 Investigates reviewed enforcement records in a federal Environmental Protection Agency database that showed the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), which is leading the investigation of last month’s discharge, already knew that the company’s dairy processing wastewater posed a significant risk to Ischua Creek.

Great Lakes Cheese reported violations of its wastewater permit in December, January, March, April and June. The permit sets limits on pollutants in its wastewater.

NYSDEC, tasked with protecting the environment and holding polluters accountable, still stocked the creek in March with 5,500 rainbow trout and 610 brown trout.

The violations include:

• December 2024: Great Lakes Cheese discharged wastewater into Ischua Creek, with chlorine and phosphorus, which exceeded its permit by 667% and 80% respectively.
• January 2025: Great Lakes Cheese discharged wastewater with chlorine, which exceeded its permit by 133%.
• March 2025: Great Lakes Cheese discharged wastewater with phosphorus, which exceeded its permit by 80% and 199%.
• April 2025: Great Lakes Cheese discharged organic matter that exceeded its permit by 14%. 27%, 36% and 27%. The NYSDEC deemed these chronic violations.
• May 2025: Great Lakes Cheese discharged phosphorus and organic matter that exceeded its permit by 711% and 341% respectively.
• June 2025: Great Lakes Cheese discharged organic matter that exceeded its permit by 32%.

There is no indication from the enforcement data that any of the prior discharges resulted in wildlife deaths.

NYSDEC has refused to answer questions about the prior violations.

“We are committed to holding responsible parties accountable and ensuring the protection of the environment and communities in Cattaraugus County,” NYSDEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton said in a statement.

The state agency never fined Great Lakes Cheese for any of the prior violations at the Franklinville facility, but the company did voluntarily shut down as the investigation continues.

Both Great Lakes Cheese and NYSDEC pinpointed the cause of the August discharge to its treatment plant, which is likely the culprit of the prior violations.

“We remain committed to fulfilling our responsibility to run environmentally responsible operations and support more than 500 local employee-owners, dozens of New York family dairies, and the broader Farmersville and Franklinville communities,” the company said in a statement.

Residents and sportsmen, however, continue to demand answers and transparency from both the NYSDEC and Great Lakes Cheese. A group protested Friday in front of the facility.

News 4 Investigates interviewed sportsmen, biologists, a retired dairy wastewater plant operator, and residents, all of whom have expressed disappointment with the company and concern about the health of Ischua Creek.

Michael Lougen, who has fly fished the creek for almost five decades, said he did not know the plant had other permit violations.

“Well, that’s a shame, because it’s a brand new factory, and they sunk millions of dollars into that plant, and they were supposed to have a state-of-the-art treatment facility,” he said. “I’m glad I’m not the only one pissed off.”

What is clear is that these permit violations risk tarnishing the image of Great Lakes Cheese – a company that economic development officials and dairy farm advocates have characterized as a catalyst for new investments in Western New York’s dairy industry.

‘This is not some industry that wants to pollute and leave’

Great Lakes Cheese, an Ohio-based company, was founded by Swiss immigrant Hans Epprecht.

The family-owned business has plants in eight states, with more than 4,000 employees, who become vested owners after five years.

The Franklinville facility opened in the fall of 2024, ending three decades of operations in Cuba, NY, when it operated as Empire Cheese.

The new facility sits on a 200-acre campus bounded to the east and west by forests. Ischua Creek, a popular fishing hole, is 1,000 feet west of the plant.

About 500 people work there, with an average salary slightly above $100,000, according to Cattaraugus Industrial Development Agency records. The plant is open 24-hours, seven days a week.

Corey Wiktor, executive director of the Cattaraugus County IDA, said there’s no doubt the company plays a critical role in the dairy industry.

The new facility “is arguably the largest private sector project in the history of this county,” he said.

Great Lakes Cheese has met every benchmark in its applications for more than $160 million in tax subsidies and provides good-paying jobs in a county best known for its ski slopes, agriculture, hunting and fishing.

A March 21 report by edairynews attributed Great Lakes Cheese’s $720 million investment in its new facility as a catalyst to making Western New York a “dairy powerhouse,” with more than $1.5 billion in private investments from other dairy companies.

“It is a tremendous economic development center within the rich dairy industry in Cattaraugus County,” Wiktor said. “Certianly, it’s been a shot in the arm to the dairy industry.”

“This is not some industry that wants to pollute and leave,” Wiktor said. “I’d go to bat for them today, tomorrow and yesterday.”

The Dairy Farmers of America, a farmer-owned cooperative, said in a statement Wednesday that “Great Lakes Cheese is an important partner in New York’s dairy industry. They provide a vital market for family farms, support jobs, and help ensure consumers have access to high-quality dairy products.”

The growth of the dairy industry is based on milk production, Wiktor said.

And Great Lakes Cheese needs a lot of milk.

The company processes more than four million gallons of milk every day to produce whey protein, cheddar, mozzarella and provolone cheeses.

That’s enough milk to flood about 14 football fields with a foot of water.

“Without a doubt, they are sourcing milk from almost every county in Western New York, and potentially Northern Pennsylvania at times,” Wiktor said.

Processing that much milk requires treatment of the dairy wastewater – a process that isn’t perfect or easy, said Jim Barnes, a retired wastewater treatment plant operator at Friendship Dairy in Alleghany County and former trustee for the Village of Cuba

“It’s terribly strong waste, and it’s difficult to treat, and you have upsets,” Barnes said. “And the DEC has known this, and they should have never allowed this by a trout stream.”

The NYSDEC allows the company to discharge up to 900,000 gallons of its treated wastewater into Ischua Creek every day, which raises another concern.

‘I really fell in love with this stream’

Both Lougen, the fly fisherman, and Barnes, questioned the plant’s location and whether the stream is suited to handle that volume of wastewater.

“I am burned up that the DEC didn’t shut that down a long time ago,” Lougen said.

Barnes said when he heard the company was looking to move to Franklinville, he thought the NYSDEC would not be on board. That volume of wastewater into a creek that is a maximum 25 feet wide, with low-flow shallow periods during the summer, makes it more susceptible to temperature increases and harm from pollution.

“That little trout stream can’t handle it,” Barnes said.

Ken Roblee, vice president for the nonprofit Nature Sanctuary Society of Western New York and former senior wildlife biologist with NYSDEC, also had concerns about the amount of treated wastewater the NYSDEC allows the company to discharge into the creek.

“For that little stream, in the summer months, it can be a significant portion of the stream itself during low water flows,” Roblee said.

Indeed, the NYSDEC knew the company’s wastewater treatment plant was not operating efficiently shortly after it opened last year.

Each of the prior violations Great Lakes Cheese reported to the NYSDEC had the potential to impact wildlife, but the enforcement data does not indicate if any were harmed.

“If we ever discover a material issue or anomaly, we work to address it effectively and promptly,” Great Lakes Cheese said in a statement. 

Residents reported to News 4 Investigates that the creek appeared unusually dark in color, with a white substance coating the creek’s bed, and an unpleasant odor prior to the Aug. 26 discharge. The creek also had an unusual amount of algae, which can be caused by excessive nutrients.

On Sunday, NYSDEC said its preliminary review of lab results for the Aug. 26 incident showed high levels of nutrients, such as nitrate and ammonia.

Ammonia can suffocate fish by damaging their gills. Nitrate, like phosphorus, can cause damage in large quantities by producing excessive algae that suck oxygen from the water, potentially causing fish and wildlife deaths.

“Based on the current evaluation by DEC’s water quality experts, the impacts on water quality are limited to Ischua Creek and did not impact other waterbodies,” NYSDEC said in a statement. “Data also shows significant improvements in Ischua Creek in the days since the State’s initial response…”

Despite the assurances, residents and sportsmen remain critical of the agency, and the company.

Lougen honed his skills fly fishing on Ischua Creek. He talked about water snakes swimming between his legs, sending chills down his back, and watching deer and turkeys cross the creek.

“I really fell in love with this stream,” he said.

And Roblee said he was hit with more bad news when a report came in that the pollutants from the Aug. 26 discharge may have killed an eastern Hellbender salamander, a candidate for federal designation as a threatened or endangered species.

The Allegheny River watershed, which includes Ischua Creek, is one of two locations in New York State where eastern Hellbenders are known to exist.

Adult Hellbenders can grow to be more than 3-feet long and can weigh more than five pounds. They breathe through their skin, which puts them at greater risk of harm from pollution and climate change.

The Nature Sanctuary Society of Western New York purchased almost eight acres in Cattaraugus County’s Allegheny River watershed to protect Hellbenders, of which Roblee is custodian.

“Ischua Creek is important for Hellbenders and we don’t want to lose them,” Roblee said.

As a result, Roblee and others continue to monitor the creek.

‘There should have been no leniency there’

A Great Lakes Cheese spokesman said the voluntary shutdown of its plant will remain in effect until the completion of the investigation.

“Meanwhile, we have returned our workforce to the facility to complete different business critical tasks during our voluntary pause, which include warehousing and order fulfillment,” the company said. “None of these tasks will impact our efforts to optimize the wastewater treatment facility.”

NYSDEC said its team continues to monitor Ischua Creek’s water quality and “fully assess the devastating water quality and habitat impacts to the resource.”

The advisory to avoid recreation in Ischua Creek remains in effect.

The Cattaraugus County Health Department said tests results of private water wells did not detect any impact from the discharges. They continue to get requests from property owners who want their wells tested.

Meanwhile, Lougen hasn’t found much comfort in the information released so far by both the company and the NYSDEC.

“There should have been no leniency there,” he said. “When you pollute that stream, it’s not just a stream for Cattaraugus County. That stream is for everyone in New York State. I told the company I want to know what your intents are about how to remedy this.”

Lougen said he is still waiting for an answer.