"HONOLULU — Critics are blasting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for dramatically lowering a fine on agribusiness company Syngenta for violations of pesticide regulations.

Syngenta, under a settlement announced this week, will pay $150,000 for improperly using the pesticide chlorpyrifos at a seed corn field in Hawaii in 2016 and 2017. It will also spend at least $400,000 to train farmers, particularly small-scale growers, in pesticide use.

The EPA initially proposed a fine nearly nine times larger — or $4.9 million — for just one incident. This amount was proposed in December 2016, under the Obama administration."

Audrey McAvoy reports for the Associated Press February 16, 2018. [2]