The Associated Press is reporting that Porter Novelli's $497,000 contract to handle communications for a controversial aerial chemical spraying program has been suspended.

Accroding to the AP, the aerial spraying campaign was orignially started to "combat the light brown apple moth, an unintended import from Australia that state officials say threatens more than 2,000 varieties of California plants and crops." The program has come under heat after, "more than 600 people complained of health problems after a synthetic pheromone that disrupts the moth's mating cycle was sprayed over Monterey and Santa Cruz counties last year."

At the heart of the AP story are issues of why Porter Novelli was offered a no-bid contract, uncommon with government work.

Nancy Lungren, the deputy secretary for public affairs stated, "It's all word-of-mouth when you're in PR. You know who the good other people are. That's how it works. ... People probably think there's some political thing here, but there's really not."

PRNewser connected via email with Roy Upton of the California Alliance to Stop the Spray (CASS), who said, "Unfortunately I know nothing of the communications regarding Porter Novelli other than they subcontracted with a firm in Monterey."