Law Lifts Most Restrictions On Grass Field Burning

Respiratory sufferers and the tourism industry were dealt a blow this week when Gov. Mike Lowry signed into law a bill that lifts nearly all restrictions on grass field burning in Spokane County.

The change, which will become effective just in time for the summer grass seed harvest, permits burning seven days a week, even on holidays, provided the weather cooperates.

“The public is the victim in this,” said Yvonne Bucklin, regional director for the American Lung Association of Washington. “People with lung disease or breathing sensitivity won’t have any way to protect themselves. It’s just ridiculous.”

Under the current regulations, grass seed farmers can torch their fields only during a 16-day period set by the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority. Weekend and holiday burning is prohibited, and those days are not counted as part of the burn period.

Grass growers, however, complained last year that the burn season was too short. It also did not match the season used in North Idaho, where farmers burn during a 47-day window, except on weekends and holidays.

Spokane County farmers burned 25,000 acres in 1994 to stimulate production of seeds for this year’s crop.

SCAPCA’s board of directors on May 4 was scheduled to vote on a proposal to adopt a system similar to Kootenai County’s. But director Eric Skelton said he has withdrawn the proposal now that state legislators have superseded SCAPCA’s authority.

Senate Bill 5609 was co-sponsored by Sen. Jim West, R-Spokane, Eugene Prince, R-Thornton, and four other lawmakers. Both were unavailable for comment Friday.

Lowry signed the bill into law Tuesday, but news of the change was lost in a flurry of 40 bills he signed the same day.

Martin Munguia, spokesman for Lowry, said Friday that the governor signed the bill because no one had opposed it. It passed the Senate 44-0; the House, 96-0.

Officials with the Intermountain Grass Growers Association could not be reached for comment Friday.

Skelton said the law essentially opens up grass field burning from the end of July to early October, six times longer than the current regulations. Skelton said the law bars restrictions on grass burning for any reason other than poor weather, such as rainy or windless days when smoke is trapped over the city.

“Any day from a meteorological standpoint that is good, we have to allow burning,” he said. “That would apply to weekends.”