Penalties are in for a company implicated in the deaths of bumblebees in Oregon earlier this year. The Oregon Department of Agriculture has issued civil penalties to the pesticide company and its employees.
$2,886. That’s how much pesticide company Collier Arbor Care and four of its employees will pay for bumblebee kills.
The most notable incident killed 50,000 bumblebees in Wilsonville, Ore. Collier employees incorrectly applied a pesticide to blooming linden trees.
The fine also includes a smaller incident in downtown Portland.
Bruce Pokarney is with the Oregon Department of Agriculture. He says the state is working to better educate commercial pesticide companies. To get recertified:
Pokarney: “They’ll be some test questions that they’ll have to answer that are very directly related to their knowledge of pollinator protection.”
Collier Arbor Care says the company is appealing the penalties.
Copyright Earthfix 2013.
Copyright 2013 KLCC