The nation’s oldest brewery, D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc., has agreed to pay $9.8 million in penalties and wastewater treatment upgrades to settle alleged Clean Water Act violations at two breweries in the company’s hometown of Pottsville, PA. According to the EPA, in a consent decree filed last week in federal court in Harrisburg, PA, the company has agreed to spend approximately $7 million to improve environmental measures at its brewery operations after it allegedly discharged pollutants into the Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority municipal wastewater treatment plant. Yuengling will also pay a $2.8 million penalty. In addition, the settlement requires Yuengling to implement an environmental management system (EMS) focused on achieving Clean Water Act compliance at two facilities.
In a complaint filed concurrently with the settlement, the US alleged Yuengling violated pretreatment permit requirements at least 141 times from 2008 to 2015.