A $50,000 settlement has been reached between the Environmental Protection Agency and a Lutak fish processor.

Chilkoot Fish and Caviar agreed to the fine, to be paid over three years, following charges brought against the company by the federal agency last fall.

“The underlying basis for the complaint was that for four years Chilkoot Fish and Caviar had discharged without a national pollution discharge permit,” said Chris Gebhardt, an enforcement officer with the EPA.

The fines stem from 2004 to 2007, when the plant generated 824,000 pounds of fish waste.

The settlement dropped from the original fine of $177,500 because of an “inability to pay,” said Gebhardt.

In statements last fall, Chilkoot Fish and Caviar argued it had been in compliance because it was operating under a state permit.

Federal law requires the plant to hold a pollution discharge permit, to grind fish wastes to within half an inch, to maintain a system for flushing waste, and to monitor the sea surface and shoreline to ensure the system was working.

Daily logs of those four activities also were required, said Gebhardt.

The EPA inspected the facility in 2007.

Jim Kallenberg, who is managing the fish processing company this year, said he couldn’t discuss the case.

The plant isn’t operating this year, but the company is buying fish and transferring them to Juneau, he said, using one tender in conjunction with another company.

“Just given the circumstances, it was a better deal for us,” Kallenberg said.

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