Three Northwest agriculture companies received fines last week for violating federally enforced pesticide laws.
The three companies in violation were Agricare of Amity, J.R. Simplot Company of Boise, Idaho, and Northwest Agricultural Products of Pasco, Wash.
Agricare, a company that manufactures mineral powder used to reduce odor in industrial lagoons, was fined $2,160 for waiting a year to officially register as a pesticide facility.
Scott Downey, manager of Seattle’s Environmental Protection Agency facility that issued the fines, said the 400 companies in Oregon, Alaska, Washington and Idaho under his office’s watch are required to submit pesticide information on March 1 each year.
“If the business is late in informing the EPA the first year, we send them a warning letter,” Downey said. “A fine is usually issued if the company has not complied with the deadline more than once.”
This timely ruling is found under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, which regulates pesticide distribution, sale and use in the U.S. Set into law in 1947, FIFRA is said to be one of the oldest national environmental laws, according to Downey.
The specific area of FIFRA violated by Agricare falls under the section titled “Registration of Establishments” and reads: “No person shall produce any pesticide…unless the establishment in which it is produced is registered with the Administrator.”
J.R. Simplot Company, a pesticides manufacturing company specializing in potatoes, was fined $28,080 for neglecting to register two pesticide facilities. Northwest Agricultural Products, another varied pesticide producer, was fined $1,280 for failing to submit their yearly reports on time.
While pesticide regulations may seem to be a state issue, the federal EPA has the final authority when issuing permission to agricultural companies.
“We primarily enforce pesticide use while the EPA deals with pesticide distribution,” Dale Mitchell, assistant administrator of the Oregon Pesticide Division, said.
Essentially, once the can of pesticide is open, the legal regulations are entirely in the hands of the state.
Now that these companies have been fined, another pesticide violation could lead to an even larger fine and subsequently tighter watch by the EPA.
“There are different factors that play into each agricultural company’s penalty,” Mitchell said, “but in the end, consumer protection is the most important.”
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