The appellant appealed a pesticide use permit issued to the respondent to apply atrazine and simazine to highways in the Grand Forks Highways District. The appellants maintained that the pesticides will pose a threat to public health and wildlife along the right-of-way, the treatment will contaminate local vegetation and water resources, and the appellant was not adequately consulted.
The Board upheld the permit finding that it provided adequate pesticide-free and buffer-zones to ensure protection of local water supplies. The Board found the respondent has been using these pesticides for the past 25 years without any reported adverse effects. It did find however that the community group had not been properly consulted and amended their permit to allow for a sign to be posted on the spray trucks to alert local residents that spraying is in progress.
