Landowners sue DuPont, alleging herbicide damage

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Landowners sue DuPont, alleging herbicide damage

Copyright © 2002 AP Online

By MARK WARBIS, Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho (April 16, 2002 9:33 p.m. EDT) - More than 100 farmers and

ranchers in Idaho are suing E.I. duPont de Nemours and Co., seeking

potentially

hundreds of millions of dollars for crop damage allegedly done by the

herbicide

Oust.

Aerial and ground applicators of the DuPont chemical also were named in the

5th

District Court lawsuit, and a claim raising the same allegations was filed

against the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The precise amount of damages is to be determined at trial, including loss

of

profits, land value, production capacity, rental income and reputation.

Boise

attorney Walter Bithell, representing the landowners, said the total could

be

in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The complaints allege more than 100,000 acres in 11 counties were affected

by

Oust. The chemical allegedly was carried by the wind from burned-off

rangeland

where the BLM had the herbicide applied in 1999 and 2000 to prevent the

emergence of noxious weeds.

Bithell said some of the farmers have defaulted on loans or been driven to

the

brink of bankruptcy by losses in potato, sugar beet, grain and other crops

in

2000 and 2001.

The Idaho Department of Agriculture investigated the crop losses and

reported

in January that the BLM violated state law by applying Oust near agriculture

property to dusty, highly erodible rangeland that had been denuded by

wildfire.

DuPont spokesman Dan Goicoechea said the company was reviewing the complaint

but that the fault was not with the chemical's manufacturer.

" Any alleged crop damage occurred from BLM's failure to follow product label

instructions and its own environmental analysis requirement, " Goicoechea

said.

The BLM instituted a statewide moratorium on Oust use last June 22. Agency

spokesman Barry Rose said Tuesday that the claim would be assessed. The BLM

has

120 days to review the claim and determine whether to offer compensation or

possibly face a lawsuit.

" We feel the situation was not caused by carelessness on our part, but by

environmental conditions that were extreme and unanticipated, " namely a

prolonged drought, Rose said. " We believe we applied the herbicide Oust in

accordance with label directions which had been approved by EPA and the

state

of Idaho. "

The lawsuit alleges negligence by DuPont and the applicators, and that Oust

is

a defective product.