RALEIGH
Jul 26, 2022
The N.C. Pesticide Board recently approved the following settlement agreements for cases in Alleghany, Guilford, Orange, Pender, Perquimans and Robeson counties. Settlements involved cases of pesticide drift damage and a worker protection violation. Settlements are listed by county below:
- (Alleghany) Christopher D. Gammons, a Winston-Salem-based pilot with Blue Ridge Helicopter Service in Lawrenceville, Ga., agreed to pay $2,600 for an aerial application of restricted use pesticides near Ennice without a valid license in North Carolina and violating several other provisions of the state’s pesticide law and/or regulations. The other violations related to drift and improper location of deposited pesticides.
- (Guilford) Candido V. Bustos, the holder of a commercial pesticide applicator license for Progressive Solutions in Bean Station, Tenn., agreed to pay $1,000 for applying a pesticide in a utility company right of way in Gibsonville, in which the pesticide appeared to have drifted onto a nearby tobacco crop. The application violated requirements of the products’ labels related to preventing drift and application and/or drift to water.
- (Orange) Brenda Wallen, the holder of a pesticide applicator license for Laughing Goat Botanicals in Siler City, agreed to pay $800 for applying pesticides without a valid pesticide applicator’s license.
- (Pender) Doyle Retherford, the holder of a commercial pesticide applicator license for High Water Farms in Atkinson, agreed to pay $1,300 after an employee was exposed to a soil fumigant. The investigation cited Retherford for violating provisions of the Worker Protection Standard, which calls for protection for handlers and training in safe handling of fumigants. Those violations also indicated pesticide use in a manner inconsistent with its labeling.
- (Perquimans) Colton Wyatt, the holder of a pesticide aerial apprentice license for Crabbe Aviation near Elizabeth City, agreed to pay $1,200 for a pesticide application that drifted onto nearby non-target property, a road and its right of way south of Woodville.
- (Robeson) Austin P. Locklear agreed to pay $1,200 for applying a pesticide in the Lumberton area without the proper license and the required additional training for paraquat application. The application resulted in drift damage to plants in a nearby residential yard, which violates the law stating pesticides should not be applied under such conditions that drift from pesticide(s) particles or vapors results in adverse effect.
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