Editorial: Monsanto’s ag toxins must be handled with care

The agrochemical company Monsanto has been hit repeatedly for violations of various environmental laws. The imperative is to see that this time the government can successfully rein it in, specifically for felonies committed in the use of pesticides in Hawaii.

The latest legal plea agreement filed Thursday in Honolulu’s federal court provides some hope of that happening.

For one thing, the agreement tallies up a total of $22.2 million in fines — including $10.2 million for two felony charges connected to its storage of a banned pesticide on Maui. Under a deferred prosecution agreement in 2019, those charges would have been dismissed had Monsanto complied with federal laws going forward.

But it hasn’t, and that’s where the other $12 million comes in. The company has acknowledged that on 30 occasions in June 2020, workers were allowed to go into corn fields on Oahu after Forfeit 280, a glufosinate ammonium-based product typically used to control weeds, had been sprayed, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court.

Federal law bars allowing people in areas where the chemical had been sprayed within the past six days.

U.S. Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison described the defendant as a “serial violator of federal environmental laws.” That seems indisputable, given Monsanto’s unwillingness to comply despite the threat of penalties hanging over it.

That’s why the fines must be kept at a punitive level so that they can’t be easily shrugged off as the cost of doing business.

Monsanto is probably best known in the islands for its seed-corn cultivation. Although its value has declined over the past decade, it has been among the state’s major cash crops after the pineapple and sugar industries withered.

The company also has become famously contentious about genetically modified organism (GMO) technologies, especially as they affect pesticide and herbicide use in Hawaii’s agricultural zones.

The agrichemicals controversy in the past has touched other companies as well. One example: Syngenta Seeds LLC in 2018 settled with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over violations of pesticide regulations in Kekaha, Kauai. Such concerns typically arise because of the fields’ proximity to residential areas and field workers’ exposure to the substances.

The payment of these fines is due within 60 days, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

In addition, the company faces three years of probation and be overseen by an independent auditor in a “comprehensive environmental compliance program.”

Among the conditions of probation is making the required payments. These include $1.5 million to each of four state agencies: The Department of Agriculture Pesticide Use Revolving Fund, the Department of the Attorney General Criminal Justice/Investigations Division, the Department of Health Environmental Management Division, and the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources.

It must retain an independent, “qualified and experienced third-party environmental compliance auditor” to report on its adherence to federal laws, with reports every six months. And if there are violations, it will have 30 days to cure them.

Consequences for a breach could be the U.S. Attorney’s Office pursuing any charges that were dismissed or not filed as a result of the agreement.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. This accord, with the needed oversight, seems to be sufficiently robust to deter further violations, but if not, Monsanto must be called out on it again. Crime — in this case, crimes against health and the environment — should not be allowed to pay.