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Neosho, Mo., Pesticide Firm to Pay $100,000 in Civil Penalties to Settle Allegations of Improper Packaging, Labeling and Sales

Release Date: 07/20/2009
Contact Information: Chris Whitley, 913-551-7394, whitley.christopher@epa.gov

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Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., July 20, 2009) - A southwest Missouri pesticide dealer has agreed to pay $100,000 in civil penalties to the United States to settle a series of alleged violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, also known as FIFRA.

Greenleaf, LLC, of 13960 Palm Road, Neosho, neither admits nor denies any of the allegations contained in an administrative consent agreement and final order, filed June 16, 2009, by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 in Kansas City, Kan.

According to the agreement, a representative of the Missouri Department of Agriculture conducted an inspection of Greenleaf's Neosho facilities on January 8, 2008. Based on that inspection and a review of records, the agreement alleges that the company was in violation of various aspects of federal pesticide regulations, including:

• Distributing or selling approximately 59 different unregistered pesticides whose contents had been manipulated and did not meet FIFRA registration requirements.
• Distributing or selling approximately 27 different misbranded pesticides.
• Holding for sale or distribution two pesticides whose composition differed from what was described in a required registration statement.
• Failing to file a 2007 annual pesticide report for its Neosho facilities.
• Failing to prepare, maintain or submit other required records.

Greenleaf remains legally incorporated in the State of Arkansas, but has ceased operating its only business locations, in Neosho and Pineville, Mo.

On November 19, 2008, in a separate but related matter handled by the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, Greenleaf entered a corporate guilty plea to a criminal charge of violating federal pesticide laws and agreed to pay a maximum fine of $200,000. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, from January 2007 to January 2008 the firm received broken bags and unwanted pesticides from Wal-Mart stores throughout the United States, and then redistributed and sold more than two million pounds of the products after improperly repackaging them.

The $100,000 civil penalty that Greenleaf has agreed to pay in settlement to EPA is separate from the $200,000 fine that the company agreed to pay in the criminal case.

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Learn more about EPA's enforcement of federal pesticide regulations

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