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Department of Ecology News Release - July 31, 2001
01-132
YAKIMA - A Union Gap farm chemical distributor has agreed to pay $20,000 in penalties for a pesticide spill on Interstate 82 that exposed passersby to the agricultural pesticide Guthion.
Guthion is an extremely toxic insecticide that may be fatal if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
G.S. Long Co. was fined $23,000 last year for improperly handling and reporting the spill that occurred when a 20-pound box of the pesticide fell from one of the company's trucks near the Yakima Avenue overpass on Aug. 4, 2000. The spill created a cloud of dust, which a number of vehicles passed through.
The company filed an appeal of the penalty last October. In the interest of resolving the dispute, the state Department of Ecology (Ecology) agreed to reduce the penalty amount to $20,000.
"Since the incident, the company has taken steps to help prevent a similar spill by enclosing the truck bed and updating its emergency procedures," said Dick Granberg with Ecology's hazardous waste and toxics reduction program in Yakima.
The company has agreed to pay the penalty in two $10,000 installments within 90 days.
Contact: Joye Redfield-Wilder, public information manager, (509) 575-2610, or pager, (509) 574-0490
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
