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Longer Period For Grass Burning Considered Farmers Would Burn On Driest Days If Allowed A Longer Burning Season

Grayden Jones Staff writer

Grass field burning may last three times longer this fall under a new proposal by Spokane air pollution regulators.

But the changes suggested by the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority could reduce the concentration of smoke by extending the burning period from two weeks to six, Aug. 15 through Sept. 30.

Farmers, regulators said, would be more likely under the new rules to burn on the driest days when wind blows smoke away from Spokane.

Farmers last year burned 25,000 acres in Spokane County to stimulate production of lawn and forage seeds.

The SCAPCA proposal is endorsed by farmers, the American Lung Association of Washington and the Idaho Clean Air Coalition.

“As long as burning is conducted, this is a positive change for air quality,” said Art Long, president of the clean air coalition, a Sandpoint-based organization that wants to eliminate field burning.

SCAPCA’s board of directors on May 4 will consider the proposals following a public hearing.

SCAPCA director Eric Skelton said the burning season would be broadened from 16 consecutive weekdays to the 16 best burning days during a 47-day season regulated by the agency. No burning would be allowed Friday through Sunday or holidays.

In addition, Skelton said the plan would eliminate a cap on the total number of acres that can be burned in the county and open the practice to farmers who have no history of grass burning.

Currently, SCAPCA limits total burned acres to 35,000, though farmers have never exceeded that. The authority also has limited burning only to farmers who burned their fields between 1985 and 1989.

The changes would mirror rules imposed four years ago in North Idaho, where growers have 16 days to burn during a 45-day season.

Regulators said the Idaho system works better because it helps disperse smoke on days when conditions are best for burning. In the past, Spokane County farmers have lit wet fields and burned up to 10,000 acres in a single day to beat the deadline.

Some lawmakers, however, believe field burning needs less management. Senate Bill 5609 - sponsored by Sens. Jim West, R-Spokane, Bob Morton, R-Orient, and Eugene Prince, R-Thornton, along with three other senators - would prohibit SCAPCA from limiting the number of burn days in the fall.

The Senate has sent the bill to the House.

If adopted, Skelton said, the bill would permit farmers to burn any day of the week during a four-month period.

xxxx A burning issue What’s Next? The Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority board of directors will conduct a public hearing at 9 a.m. on May 4 in the Public Works Building, 1026 W. Broadway. SCAPCA’s board of directors is expected to vote on the proposal after the hearing. Who’s on the board? Skip Chilberg, board chairman and a county commissioner; Steve Hasson, county commissioner; Mike Brewer, Spokane City councilman; Harry Gibbons, mayor of Fairfield; Jan Monaco, director of Spokane County Medical Society.