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In Settlement with U.S., Puerto Rico Farm Pays Fine and Changes the Way It Applies Pesticides; Agrees to Relief Measures to Protect Local Residents from Drift

Release Date: 08/28/2001
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(#01107) New York, N.Y. -- In a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) of allegations that the way it applied pesticides violated federal law, the Tropical Fruit farm, located in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico , has agreed to make significant changes in the way it applies pesticides to ensure that residents living nearby are protected from pesticide drift. In addition to the operational changes, the proposed consent decree between the company and EPA provides that Tropical Fruit will pay a penalty of $35,000 for failing to adhere to past EPA orders and as partial reimbursement for expenses incurred by the agency. EPA will hold a public availability session on Thursday, August 30 at 6:30 PM at the Barrio Indios Centro Comunal at Carretera #336 in Guayanilla to discuss the terms of the proposed agreement with interested members of the public. EPA also welcomes written public comments about the agreement. EPA's dealings with Tropical Fruit began in 1996, after the agency received reports from local residents of the Barrio Boca community (just west of Guayanilla) about pesticides drifting off the farm and into their neighborhood. EPA issued an order to Tropical Fruit and its partners requiring them to stop applying pesticides in a way that caused them to drift into the community. When the farm did not comply, in March 1997, EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint alleging that the farm violated worker protection and pesticide label requirements of the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), the federal pesticides law. In the complaint, EPA also sought to require the farm to adhere to its original order. The settlement with EPA that Tropical Fruit has just agreed to resolves the issues raised in EPA's March 1997 complaint. "This agreement has been a long time coming, and we are very pleased that the residents of Barrio Boca will now be protected to the fullest extent from unnecessary exposure to pesticides," said William J. Muszynski, EPA Acting Regional Administrator. "The many changes Tropical Fruit agreed to make will make the farm an industry leader in performing safer large-scale pesticide applications. This agreement also demonstrates that changes can be made to farming operations that will protect the public from exposures to pesticides." The Tropical Fruit farm is a 2,300-acre facility that grows mangoes, bananas and plantains. From 1996 to 1997, EPA determined that the company regularly applied pesticides to the crops including Malathion, Supracide-2E, Captan 50, Dithane F-45 and Kocide. Label directions on several of these pesticides state that they should not be applied in a way that would expose workers or other people to pesticide drift. Complaints from local residents, videotape recordings, Tropical Fruit=s pesticide application records and other reports indicated that on several occasions in 1996 and 1997, the farm did not follow label directions and applied pesticides in a way that caused them to drift off of the farm and into the Barrio Boca community. EPA received numerous reports from nearby residents of negative health effects B especially in children B due to exposure to pesticides from Tropical Fruit. EPA also found that workers applying pesticides were not given proper pesticide safety information, and did not wear necessary personal protective equipment as required by the pesticide label instructions. These and other violations of FIFRA led to the agency's several actions against Tropical Fruit, which have been resolved with the recent consent decree. In the proposed consent decree, the farm agrees to do the following: strictly comply with all applicable environmental laws and regulations, including closely following pesticide label instructions and preventing drift; plant a vegetative barrier of neem trees along nearly the entire northern perimeter of the farm and where the western border runs close to homes or public roadways, removing any mango trees or other crops along the perimeter; where mangoes are grown, establish a 173 foot wide buffer zone next to the vegetative barrier, within which no mechanized spraying of pesticides or other hazardous substances is to occur; establish Ano-spray zones@ set by EPA within the 173 foot mango buffer zone and along the northern border of the farm where bananas are grown, where no pesticides of any kind may be sprayed. The no- spray zones will vary from section to section of the farm, and the farm must relocate or remove all mango and banana trees from the no-spray zones. Only unsprayed plantains may be grown in these areas; follow EPA-set standards regarding wind speed for the application of pesticides in areas near Barrio Boca, and use new advanced equipment to measure wind speed and direction before and during applications; notify EPA 72 hours in advance of all pesticide and fertilizer applications in areas near Barrio Boca; and hire an EPA-approved monitor to track the farm's compliance with certain spraying provisions of the agreement for three years. Should Tropical Fruit fail to comply with these and other requirements of the consent agreement, additional penalties may apply. The proposed consent decree will be subject to public comment for 30 days after it is lodged with the court. After this time, it will be submitted to the court for entry. EPA anticipates that the public comment period will end approximately the last week of September 2001. The public may review the proposed consent decree at the office of the United States Attorney, Federal Building Room 452, Carlos Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, PR 00918, and the Environmental Protection Agency, Caribbean Environmental Protection Division, Centro Europa Building, Suite 417, 1492 Ponce De Leon, Stop 22, Santurce, Puerto Rico, 00907-4127. Interested members of the public may submit written comments to the Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Department of Justice, P.O. Box 76ll, Washington, D.C. 20044. Please refer to United States v. Tropical Fruit, S.E., et al., D.J. Ref. 1-1700z.