$69,000 in new fines for Grant County farmer
State environmental regulators have again fined a Grant County mint farm, this time after investigators found containers leaking hazardous material into the ground.
The Washington Department of Ecology announced on Monday that it has levied $69,000 in new fines against Mike Brown and several corporations he owns, including B&G Farms, Inc. According to an agency press release, Brown was fined for mishandling hazardous waste and oil on a decommissioned missile site northwest of Royal City, Wash.
In addition to the fines, the agency ordered B&G Farms to cease collecting hazardous waste at the site, send existing waste to disposal facilities, and clean up the contaminated soil.
“Cleaning up this site will cost significantly more than it would have cost to recycle and properly manage these wastes in the first place,” said Lisa Brown, a hazardous-waste manager for the agency in Spokane. “It’s important for farmers to take advantage of pesticide collection and recycling opportunities when they are offered.”
A woman who answered the phone at B&G Farms on Monday said Brown was not available for comment.
The agency has fined B&G Farms several times in recent years. The farm agreed to pay a $20,000 fine in 2003 after a mint-sludge pile spontaneously combusted and burned for several days. The first of the fires, in 1999, spread smoke across a road and caused a five-car pileup that killed one man, according to newspaper archives.
In a separate case, Ecology fined the farm $20,000 after the state concluded that violations related to the drilling of two wells contributed to the deaths of two workers who fell into a pit of foam and water in November 1999.
In the most recent case, investigators found 11 drums of unknown content, as well as computer monitors, refrigerators and lead-acid batteries at the site last year. Soil sampling showed lead, pesticide and oil contamination was present in levels high enough to require cleanup, according to the agency.
“Our state’s hazardous-waste laws are there to protect the environment from this kind of contamination,” Brown said in the press release. “These are serious violations, and the company has had previous technical assistance and several opportunities to comply with hazardous-waste regulations.”
The company has 30 days to appeal to the agency or to the state’s Pollution Control Hearings Board.
The agency said growers can dispose of pesticides at no cost through the state’s Department of Agriculture waste pesticide disposal program.
To contact Agriculture, call (877) 301-4555 or visit the website at http://agr.wa.gov/PestFert/Pesticides/WastePesticide.htm.