BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

BRASHER -- Following significant pushback from citizens during a public town hall meeting last month, North Country Dairy officials have made good on their promise to create a website to keep the community updated on operations after contamination in the Deer River was cited to the dairy plant.

DEC officials first met with residents July 23 in an attempt to offer updates regarding the ongoing investigation into the contamination, detailing a number of reports and aspects of the investigation.

DEC officials previously released a statement which said the department determined the growth to be primarily Leptomitus lacteus, “a filamentous microorganism similar to a fungus.”

The growth was later identified to have come from North Country Dairy, a dairy processing plant along the river in North Lawrence that makes Greek yogurt.

Despite DEC officials meeting with residents for well over three hours, the meeting left many residents frustrated. Many publicly called out North Country Dairy officials for "ducking" the meeting.

North Country Dairy officials sent a letter to NCTW and town officials prior to the meeting which said they were unable to attend due to not receiving enough prior notice to send a representative.

Residents called on North Country Dairy reps to host their own open forum and to face the more than 100 attendees at the same venue so they could offer their side of the situation.

Though DEC officials and North Country Dairy officials offered very different views and opinions on the source of the contamination and necessary remediation to clean up the 12 mile stretch of the river, residents were happy to learn dairy officials were at least willing to establish the website.

The website contains information for the public, including background materials like Freedom of Information requests and responses from the DEC and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency related to the ongoing investigation.

The website also features EPA data for the plant.

To date, the plant has been issued two notices of violation related to the contamination.

"They know action needs to be taken and they know what the violations are. They were cited for the discharge as well as for killing fish, so it's two separate violations," DEC Region 6 Randall Young said during the July forum.

Despite residents' concerns, Young said the plant is still able to operate and has a valid SPEDES permit to do so.

"Yes, they are still allowed to operate. For us to just shut them down is an extremely difficult process and it's the last thing that we want to do," Young said.

A remediation plan had been pitched to plant officials, which they acknowledged at their own forum in August, however they declined to offer any details citing potential legal proceedings.

DEC officials have said on multiple occasions that their job is to stop any pollution in the river.

Regional Attorney Jennifer Dougherty spoke to the current steps being taken, noting that the DEC would litigate with the plant if necessary.

"That is ultimately not what we want though. We hope to have a plan in place that we can all agree upon so we can avoid a lengthy process like that," she said.

Young chimed in, saying that the plant is able to take action immediately if they so choose.

“It is our hope they are already taking corrective action. If they are wise, they are already working on that,” he said.

Now residents have a line of communication of sorts with plant officials through the website where they can submit messages.

Many residents said during the August forum that they would be in contact with plant officials if the odors continued to be pungent or if the contamination remained.

"You better believe you'll be hearing from us if this continues," resident James Gurrola told North Country Dairy officials.

For more information, visit https://northlawrencecommunityupdate.com/