WINNEBAGO - Ethanol producer Corn Plus has pleaded guilty to a wastewater violation and agreed to pay a $150,000 fine.

On Aug. 10, 2007, the Faribault County Sheriff's Office and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency executed a search warrant, opening an investigation into citizen complaints of illegal discharging from the plant into a drainage ditch that leads to Rice Lake.

The court complaint states that fecal, water, metal and bacteria samples were taken. It also states the ditch looked milky and didn't smell right.

Then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took over the case, charging Corn Plus with a misdemeanor count of negligent discharge between 2005 and August 2007.

Magistrate Judge Jeanne Graham heard the case Wednesday in the federal court in Minneapolis. Corn Plus admitted it failed to exercise due and reasonable care to protect U.S. waters, according to a press release from Assistant U.S. Attorney David Genrich, the prosecutor.

The ethanol producer admitted to discharging the pollutant called biological oxygen into Rice Lake.

Corn Plus faces a maximum penalty of five years probation and a $200,000 fine. Magistrate Judge Graham will schedule sentencing for a later date.

John Lundquist, attorney for Corn Plus, said the company is in compliance with the Pollution Control Agency and Environmental Protection Agency, and has cooperated with the Department of Justice.

"Corn Plus cooperated with the federal government during the course of the investigation and has agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and make a $50,000 contribution to an environmental project that will benefit Rice Lake and the local community," Lundquist said in a statement. "As part of the settlement, Corn Plus has agreed to enhance its environmental compliance plan. The company corrected the conditions that resulted in the discharge well over a year ago and brought its operation into full compliance with environmental regulations."

The Pollution Control Agency has investigated the company for other environmental violations in the past. According to a press release on the agency's Web site, in 2001 Corn Plus installed a 521,000-gallon storage tank and did not notify the agency, nor did it seek a permit. Multiple unreported alcohol-blend fuel spills also were cited by the agency. The company paid fines for those violations in 2005 and 2006, correcting cited measures. In 2002, Corn Plus settled an air-quality violation with the EPA and implemented an improvement plan.

Corn Plus was founded in 1993, and produces 49 million gallons of ethanol annually.