Spray Firm Agrees To Settle

Tue., May 13, 1997

From Staff And Wire Reports

An Oregon helicopter company has agreed to pay $1,500 to settle a federal complaint that it violated pesticide laws by spraying herbicides that allegedly harmed hunters.

The Environmental Protection Agency signed a consent agreement on Monday with Precision Helicopters, Inc.

Precision Helicopters agreed to pay the same total in civil penalties the EPA sought when it cited the Newberg, Ore.-based company last month for three violations of pesticide laws.

In the agreement, Precision Helicopters does not admit any wrongdoing.

The EPA says the violations occurred Nov. 2-3 during flights in Franklin County to spray canal-bank weeds with the herbicide 2,4-D.

Numerous pheasant hunters were in the area on those dates, and at east four have filed formal complaints that they were sprayed or hit by drift from a helicopter applying herbicides near the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The hunters complained of headaches, dizziness, stomach cramps and diarrhea.

EPA officials have said the company violated pesticide laws by failing to keep unprotected people out of spray areas and by twice using a much higher concentration of chemical than called for on container labels.

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