MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Cabot Creamery, a dairy cooperative known for its award-winning cheddar cheese, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges for killing thousands of fish in a chemical spill, officials said Tuesday.

Charged with negligently discharging ammonia into the Winooski River in violation of the Clean Water Act, the company has agreed to pay a $50,000 fine.

, be placed on probation and take steps to prevent future spills.

The spill occurred in July 2005, while Cabot was replacing its refrigeration system. As two employees were draining ammonia from an old condenser into a 55-gallon drum, a water hose left in the drum caused the liquid to overflow into a storm drain leading to the river.

Employees used the same procedure the following day to drain ammonia from the new unit when they discovered defective equipment.

The chemical discharge damaged several miles of the river in Cabot, killing an estimated 14,500 fish, as well as macroinvertebrates and plants.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigated after receiving citizen complaints and reading press accounts.

“We were looking at it from the standpoint, were federal criminal laws violated?” said Michael Hubbard, a special agent in the EPA’s criminal investigation division. “The determination was made that they were.”

“This is the first clean water violation (for which) we’ve brought charges in Vermont,” he said.

The spill came 12 years after a similar incident in which Cabot illegally discharged ammonia into the river. After paying a fine, the company agreed to establish procedures for handling chemicals to prevent future contamination.

“They did, in fact, pay a modest penalty in ’83 and they signed an agreement to do those things that would have ensured that this one did not occur, but they didn’t do it,” Hubbard said.

Mistakes were made, Cabot acknowledged.

“We took the damage we caused seriously,” said Roberta MacDonald, senior vice president. “It was shocking and painful to discover the accident, and we immediately notified the appropriate authorities.”

Under the agreement, Cabot will contribute $50,000 to nonprofit groups that benefit the river. It also has agreed to an outside audit of its environmental compliance methods.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Anderson credited the company for taking responsibility for its conduct.

“However, Vermonters must be confident that Cabot and other companies are using dangerous chemicals carefully and taking affirmative steps to keep these chemicals from pollution Vermont’s rivers and harming Vermont’s environment,” he said.

Anthony Iarrapino, a lawyer with the Conservation Law Foundation, suggested that the state Agency of Natural Resources hadn’t done enough to prosecute the spill.

“The fact that EPA had to step in and hold a polluter accountable for killing 15,000 fish, to us, highlights the poor track record ANR has for enforcing the environmental laws that protect our water,” he said.

Sal Spinosa, enforcement chief for the agency, said the state investigated the spill and likely was prepared to send the case to the attorney general’s office.

“To interpret that that we weren’t doing the work, I think, is utter nonsense,” he said.

—–

On the Web:

Cabot Creamery: www.cabotcheese.com

AP-ES-11-27-07 1719EST