BANGOR – An Idaho contracting company believes it is the target of inspections and fines by the federal government because its co-owner employed the 14 foreign workers who died a year ago today in the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

Progressive Environmental Services LLC of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a newly created company that employed 340 tree thinners and planters this year in Maine, in late June was fined $7,150 for six alleged “serious violations” by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to OSHA documents unavailable until this week.

Progressive is co-owned by Peter Smith III of Sandpoint, Idaho, who was sole owner of the victims’ employer, Evergreen Forestry Services, until earlier this year when he did not renew his federal licenses. During an interview in June, Smith said he was a 40 percent investor in Progressive and that the company was being formed before the accident occurred.

In late December, the Labor Department fined Evergreen $17,000 for alleged violations of federal regulations, including failing to register an employee with the department, transporting workers without a certificate of authorization, and allowing or requiring the operation of a van at excessive speeds. Smith appealed the fine and that appeal is pending.

The department also notified Smith in December that it wanted to permanently revoke his labor contractor certificate because of the new alleged violations and past infractions. While he could have renewed his certificate during the appeal process, he didn’t and the Labor Department in July dismissed its license revocation case, according to Labor Department documents.

John Chavez, a Labor Department spokesman, said Smith can be an investor in a company, but he cannot manage the day-to-day operations.

Bruce Campbell of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, another co-owner of Progressive who manages the company, said during a telephone interview Thursday that a Labor Department inspector informed him that his Maine operations were being reviewed this year because of Smith’s involvement with the new company.

“They told me that’s why they came out there [to the woods],” Campbell said.

OSHA’s citations included allegations of operating unsafe equipment, inadequate hearing protection, crew foremen not trained in first aid, and inadequate two-way communications systems for workers if an accident occurred in the woods.

The company’s payroll records remain under review by the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, according to a Labor Department official who asked not to be identified.

Progressive received “expedited informal settlement agreements” that informed the company that the fines would be reduced by half the amount if they were paid by Sept. 2. Campbell said he signed the agreements and mailed them, along with the fines, to OSHA’s office in Portland on Aug. 27.

John Chavez, a Labor Department spokesman in Boston, said Thursday that the Labor Department had not received the documents by Sept. 2.