The New School Nazis: It's Your Actions that Define You

AgGag.gov – Deadly Drift

Rural governance is a recirculating pump that puts rural abuse through an endless loop of delays and denials. Here’s an example of how it works:

I was mowing my lawn on a windy day when an agricultural boom sprayer drove up next to me, engulfing me in a large cloud of Roundup. I quickly went inside and cleaned up, but I had breathed quite a bit in before I could escape.

Immediately after cleaning up, I reported this incident to the agribusiness that sprayed me, but they didn’t even offer an apology.

That night, I became dimly conscious that I was standing in the middle of the bathroom—high-pressure vomiting all over myself, the floor and the toilet, and I didn’t even care. I crawled back into bed and stayed there for twenty-four hours. It took a full week for me to feel almost normal.

My complaint to the NYSDEC brought two investigators, and a report that needed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to see. The investigation blamed me. It was reported that I expressed opinions against farming, implied that I was either lying out of malice or had sprayed myself, and they ended the report with “case closed!”

It is notable that the NYSDEC investigation into this [Roundup] herbicide drift poisoning never provided any facts regarding the wind speed, wind direction, or application restrictions, and relied on assertions and suppositions to discredit my testimony and the incident itself.

I collected data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showing local wind speeds of 16–17 mph, gusting to 23 mph during the time of the incident, and along with a review of the NYSDEC report by an expert investigator of wide experience (who was concerned about its lack of facts and the appearance of bias), and sent them to state senators and representatives with copies of the original investigation and other reference material. Everything was passed back to the NYSDEC.

The regional director responded that the DEC had “reviewed this matter,” “the initial investigation was thorough,” and “the decision not to pursue administrative or criminal enforcement was proper.” Again, they offered no facts of any sort.

Last year, I received a phone call from a former employee of that same agribusiness, stating that he had read my account of herbicide poisoning in “Cornithaca County” and that this company had repeatedly instructed employees to spray in conditions that were too windy to comply with federal label application instructions.

I gathered this and all the other information and sent it to the New York State Attorney General’s Office. They passed it all back to the NYSDEC. There has been no response.  

Agricultural interests don’t have regulators — they have friends.