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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Jan. 24, 2000
00-007
Contact: Jani Gilbert, Public Information Manager, 509-456-4464; pager, 509-622-1289
SPOKANE - B&G Farms, Inc. of Grant County has been fined nearly $30,000 for a fire that led to a string of injury accidents along an adjacent highway last November.
The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) issued the penalty in connection with a mint-slug fire that started last Nov. 17. The fire caused a dense plume of smoke that restricted visibility on the Beverly Burke Road. The poor visibility resulted in three separate car accidents, involving five cars and 12 people. The road had to be closed for two days before it was safe to use again.
According to the Grant County Sheriff's Office, one man later died as a result of injuries sustained in one of the accidents.
The bulk of the penalty ($25,000) is related to allowing the spontaneous combustion of the pile of mint slugs. Mint slugs are the solid wastes generated after distilling mint oil from leaves.
The remainder of the penalty ($4,750) involved a separate issue. In that case, B&G Farms, Inc. failed to apply for a "notice of construction" permit, which is required in Washington state for any new source of air pollution. The company installed at least two diesel-oil-fired boilers without getting the proper permits.
"The illegal burning was a blatant violation of air quality laws that had tragic results," said Grant Pfeifer, Ecology's air-quality supervisor in Eastern Washington. "The company has had ample opportunity over the years to change the way it manages these waste piles."
B&G Farms, Inc. is owned by Mike Brown of Royal City. The company had received technical advice and warnings from Ecology inspectors several times over the past decade that the mint slug piles needed to be managed to avoid spontaneous combustion.
B&G Farms, Inc. may file an "application for relief" from the penalty with Ecology within 15 days, or may file an appeal within 30 days with the state's Pollution Control Hearings Board.
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
