The commercial nursery will pay the Thurston County Environmental Health Department to teach consumers and local governments about non-toxic and less toxic ways to control pests.

The county will receive $36,900 from L & L Nursery from a settlement the nursery reached with the state Department of Ecology.

The settlement involved Thurston instead of Pierce County where the nursery is located because Thurston County has a model integrated pest management.

“We were surprised,” said Patrick Soderberg, Thurston County hazardous waste specialist.

L & L Nursery was originally fined $82,000 by the Department for storing discontinued products and chemicals returned to the nursery in box trailers that were then sold to a company in Sumner.

The company, Trailer Source, hired a contractor to dispose of the chemicals at the Hidden Valley transfer station in Sumner.

Shortly afterward, a fire erupted at the landfill, exposing workers to toxic gases and forcing an evacuation.

Ecology inspectors in July 2006 traced the chemicals back to L & L Nursery and imposed the fine, which the nursery appealed.

The deal also requires L & L to pay $20,500 of the original fine.

Source: The Olympian (Washington state)