"EPA Pesticide Settlement Comes Under Scrutiny"

"The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to dramatically scale back a pesticide fine on a California company has raised eyebrows, highlighting the ethical land mines facing an administration filled with former lobbyist and business executives.   

The Obama administration hit the company, Syngenta, with a $4.8 million fine in December 2016 for violating pesticide regulations that resulted in the sickening of farm workers in Hawaii.

Once the Trump administration took over, the civil fine was reduced to $150,000, though the EPA also ordered Syngenta to spend a minimum of $400,000 to conduct worker training on how to use pesticides.

“Reducing pesticide exposure for the millions of farmworkers who cultivate our food is a high priority for EPA,” wrote Alexis Strauss, the EPA’s acting regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest and longtime veteran of the agency, in a statement last February. “This settlement will bring to Hawaii and Pacific Island growers much-needed training to protect agricultural workers.”"

Megan R. Wilson reports for The Hill May 8, 2018.