September 30, 2025

North Country Dairy: Fall 2025 Update

Dear North Lawrence neighbors, 

As part of our continued effort to keep the community informed about our progress in addressing environmental concerns, we would like to share an update on the progress we’ve made at our facility and future actions as we head into the fall months. 

Immediate Improvements Underway 

We’ve taken and continue to take several steps to improve our facility’s performance on a daily basis. We continue to use Byo-Gon PX-109®, a 100% organic product to assist with odor control, approved by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for use at our facility. We also continue to divert whey and other product waste, which helps reduce the load on our treatment system and ultimately reduces odor. We have found both of these steps to be extremely effective. 

Completed Major Projects 

We’ve completed a major undertaking to restore capacity to our wastewater treatment system, a key milestone for us in recent months. This was accomplished via an extensive sludge removal project associated with one of our lagoons. This capital project has restored the lagoon’s full capacity, allowing it to operate as effectively as possible, and ensure compliance with our discharge limits. 

Long-Term Actions and New Initiatives 

We’re also making significant investments in our facility’s future. We recently began a project to restore the facility’s aeration system to provide increased bioactivity in our wastewater treatment system. This enhanced aeration will continue to enable beneficial bacteria to thrive and more effectively consume waste. This is a huge capital investment, and we are looking forward to seeing the beneficial results of these upgrades, which are anticipated to be completed in the next two weeks.  

We are also continuing to work with the DEC to finalize an engineering report that analyzes long-term improvements for our treatment system. We expect to move forward with these plans once we have received final discharge limits on our SPDES permit from the DEC. 

Community and Collaboration 

We’re always looking for ways to improve our community impact and our relationship with you, our North Lawrence neighbors. We hope to share some exciting news with you all soon on that front.  

Thank you for your patience and for the open dialogue. Your feedback is important to us, and we are committed to making our community a better place for everyone. 

As always, we are committed to transparency and will continue to share updates on this website as new information becomes available. 

Sincerely,
Kevin Ellis
Chief Executive Officer, Upstate Niagara Cooperative

June 27, 2025

North Country Dairy: SPDES Permit Update

Recently North Country Dairy has received a draft State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

This draft permit is a result of the DEC-initiated modification process for our facility’s water discharge. We are currently in the process of thoroughly reviewing and analyzing the proposed permit, which contains substantially different terms and limits from our current permit. You can find the full public notice below.

As always, we are committed to transparency and will continue to provide updates as we move forward.

June 16, 2025

North Country Dairy: Summer 2025 Update

Dear North Lawrence neighbors,

We are committed to keeping you informed about our ongoing efforts to address environmental concerns and maintain transparent communication with our community. As we move into the summer months, here’s a look at the immediate actions we’ve taken and our ongoing long-term commitments:

Immediate & Short-Term Actions Underway:

• Odor Control & Water Quality Enhancement: We have begun using Byo-Gon PX-109®, a 100% organic product approved by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), at our facility. This will help (and has already) with odor control, boost beneficial biological activity in our wastewater treatment system, increase dissolved oxygen (DO), and reduce biochemical oxygen demand (BOD).
• Waste Diversion: We are operating a waste silo at our facility. This allows us to capture product waste more effectively, limiting the amount of waste that needs to go through our wastewater treatment system (WWTS). This further reduces the load on the system.
• Sludge Removal Project Preparation: Our team is actively preparing to begin the sludge removal project, a key recommendation from our WWTS Analysis Report. This project is designed to improve the capacity of a treatment lagoon, enhancing its efficiency.

Ongoing Long-Term Actions:

• WWTS Improvements: As we’ve shared over the last several months, we are actively preparing and analyzing various long-term improvements for our WWTS, which will be detailed in the forthcoming engineering report, and aims to propose sustainable solutions for our facility’s future.

In tandem with these short- and long-term actions, North Country Dairy continues to engage with the DEC regarding potential changes to its water discharge permit at our North Country Dairy facility. With the submission of a robust Engineering Report this week, we are nearly complete with our obligations under the December Consent Order with DEC and have come a long way since last summer. 

As always, we are committed to transparency and will continue to share updates on this website as new information becomes available.

Thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Sincerely,
Kevin J. Ellis
Chief Executive Officer, Upstate Niagara Cooperative