Manufacturer of Western Red Cedar Utility Poles Settles Charges Involving Unlicensed Exports to Canada

The U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that Bell Lumber and Pole Company, a manufacturer of lumber and wood products headquartered in New Brighton, Minnesota, agreed to pay civil penalties in the amount of $10,400 to settle charges that it violated the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by exporting unprocessed Western red cedar to Canada for further processing in the form of treatment with preservative without obtaining licenses from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

During the time period in which Bell made the exports in question, exports of Western red cedar harvested from state and federal lands in the United States that had been cut into poles, posts, or pilings for use as such and intended for treatment with preservative outside the United States required export licenses to all destinations. Such exports were controlled for short supply reasons.

Bell agreed to settle charges relating to 26 unlicensed exports of unprocessed Western red cedar to Canada for further processing from April 27, 2000 to November 18, 2003.

Acting Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Wendy L. Wysong commended BIS’s San Jose Field Office for its work on this investigation.