Mint Farm Fined

Sat., March 11, 2000

From Staff

The Washington Department of Ecology has fined a Grant County mint farm for illegal burning.

B&G Farms Inc., located near Royal City, was fined $10,000 this week for a fire in a mint waste pile. The fire started in the first week of January and was still smoldering Jan. 20.

The fine follows a $25,000 penalty issued to the farm in January for a fire that occurred in November 1999. Officials said that blaze contributed to three accidents and one fatality along Beverly Burke Road.

Ecology inspectors have given technical advice and warnings about mint slug piles to B&G Farms’ owner Mike Brown several times over the past decade. Slugs are the solid waste that comes after distilling mint leaves. In large piles, slugs can be prone to spontaneous combustion.

No one from B&G Farms was available for comment.

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Mint Farm Fined

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

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