Probe Sought After Hunters Reported Being Sprayed Environmental Groups Want Investigation Into Reported Crop-Dusting Incidents

The Clinton administration has been asked by environmental groups to investigate pesticide spraying in the Columbia Basin after hunters complained they were sprayed by a crop-dusting helicopter.

A coalition of 14 groups from Washington, Oregon and Idaho sent a letter this week to three Clinton appointees asking for the probe.

“Hunters who were in the area got sick after the helicopter sprayed over them,” said Norma Grier, executive director of the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives To Pesticides, based in Eugene, Ore.

The letter is to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, Environmental Protection Agency head Carol Browner, and Council on Environmental Quality director Katie McGinty.

It demands a review of the Interior Department’s pesticide-use policies.

After the reported spraying incidents, the agency’s Bureau of Reclamation disclosed that the herbicide 2,4-D is sprayed twice a year to control weeds along irrigation canals in the desert-like basin. The chemical is sprayed near wetlands and waterways, in apparent violation of laws governing its use.

The “misuses of pesticides … threaten human health, the purity of waterways and wetlands, and the survival of wildlife, salmon, steelhead, and other aquatic organisms,” the letter said.

The environmental groups ask that former Interior secretary and Idaho governor Cecil Andrus be appointed to supervise the investigation.

Andrus did not return a message left at his office Wednesday at Boise State University.

The spraying of 2,4-D threatens efforts to restore wild salmon and steelhead runs throughout the Columbia Basin, said Denis Hayes, president of the environmental advocacy Bullitt Foundation in Seattle.

Several hunters reported they were sprayed with the chemical on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 along the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River, and near the town of Mesa. The Hanford Reach is under consideration for designation under the U.S. Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Witnesses reported a crop-dusting helicopter apparently failed to see them and sprayed the chemical, which drifted over them. Several people reported becoming sick afterward.

The Bureau of Reclamation owns hundreds of miles of canals and waterways in the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project, and contracts with the South Columbia Irrigation District to manage those near Hanford.

For years, the irrigation district has hired a helicopter in the spring and fall to spray near waterways to clear noxious weeds that can clog ditches.

The helicopter company named in the complaints has denied spraying anyone.

Some hunters complained to the Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating if any of its rules were violated by the crop-duster.

Work on the FAA investigation was slowed by the Thanksgiving holiday and by the additional information that keeps appearing, spokesman Mitch Barker said from Seattle.

He said it would be at least another two weeks before any conclusions are reached.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., also is looking into the matter, as are several state agencies.