La Crosse board approves renewal of industrial wastewater discharge permit for local firm

The La Crosse Board of Public Works on Feb. 16 approved a five-year renewal of an industrial wastewater discharge permit for a local firm referenced in the meeting record as “S and S cycle” (the transcript also refers to “SMS cycle”), the board learned during a routine permit review.

Andrew, the city’s special projects coordinator who oversees the wastewater pretreatment program, described the request as a standard renewal: “So what we have today is a a permit for SMS cycle. They’re an industry, that we permit. It’s a discharge permit,” he said, adding that “we have 5 year terms, so, their current permit is set to expire next month.”

Director Gallagher asked whether the company must pay a separate fee for the permit. Andrew replied, “Not for the permit itself, but they do pay, for the testing that we do. And then, to run the pretreatment program, they’ll pay fees for that.”

The Board approved the renewal on a motion made by Director Gallagher and seconded by Council President Dickinson; the motion passed unanimously. The transcript does not record the board’s roll-call votes or the company’s full legal name; the company name appears inconsistently in the meeting record and the city did not provide a corrected spelling during the session.

Why it matters: industrial discharge permits authorize firms to discharge treated waste to the municipal system and tie into monitoring and testing obligations. The five-year term is the standard renewal period noted in the presentation, and the board’s approval allows the company to continue discharging under the city’s pretreatment oversight while testing and program fees continue to apply.

Next steps: the approval renews the permit; no additional conditions or amendments were recorded in the meeting transcript.