Lowry Enlightened On Grass Burning Governor Comes To Spokane To Hear From Both Sides In Heated Debate

Gov. Mike Lowry stepped into the smoke and fire of Spokane’s grass burning controversy on Tuesday.

In separate meetings, Lowry listened to Spokane County growers who want to control when to torch their 25,000 acres of bluegrass, and to clean-air activists who want the burning stopped.

The growers met with Lowry in the conference room of Spokane’s federal agriculture offices - with a view of a hazy skyline from the burning of several thousand acres of grass in south Spokane County and North Idaho on Monday.

They defended the state Legislature’s deregulation of grass burning last spring, a bill they thanked Lowry for signing.

Lowry said the bill curtailing the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority’s power over grass burning was part of a larger regulatory reform effort.

Legislators “wanted to give more flexibility to farmers,” Lowry said.

The growers also complained about “negative” media coverage, and said they are only a small part of Spokane’s complex air problems.

John Cornwall, president of the 450-member Intermountain Grass Growers’ Association, said the industry is concerned about public health and is trying to direct the smoke away from urban areas.

“We make a consideration of where the smoke goes before we light the match,” Cornwall said.

Spokane County residents bothered by smoke should simply wear masks during the burning season, he said.

“I feel for the people who have health problems, but government can’t protect their lungs. … This smoke intrusion into Spokane isn’t going to hurt anybody,” he said.

That’s absurd, said a Spokane doctor who attended Lowry’s meeting with clean-air activists from Save Our Summers, a new group formed this year to curtail burning. They met the governor at his Spokane office.

Grass smoke contains fine particles that can be extremely hazardous to lungs, said Dr. Mike Kirsch, a Sacred Heart Medical Center radiologist.

“You’d have to wear a rubber-sealed, gigantic industrial mask to be protected from these tiny particles,” Kirsch said.

He and his wife Linda brought their 3-year-old daughter, Lauren, to meet Lowry.

Lauren is among 6,000 children with asthma in Spokane County who are vulnerable during grass-burning season, said Linda Kirsch.

“I kept her inside during the burning this week, but she’s still not protected. The smoke particles are so small they come into the house. There’s no escape,” she said.

Many Spokane lung specialists report a sharp increase in problems among their patients during grass burning season, said Mike Kirsch.

“Clearly, the medical costs to the community are substantial,” he told Lowry.

Roe Roberts, an assistant professor at Eastern Washington University, said grass burning season means trouble for her son Philip, 2, who has cystic fibrosis.

Research into the lung-crippling disease promises a cure within three to five years. But meanwhile, Philip’s lungs are at risk, Roberts told Lowry.

“The second day after grass burning started, he woke up gasping for the first time this year. As a mom, I’m angry,” she said.

The SOS coalition wants Lowry to ask the state Department of Ecology to schedule a hearing in Spokane on alternatives to field burning.

The group also wants the governor to support legislation next year to reregulate the industry.

Lowry made no promises to either group on Tuesday.

“This week, he’s simply here to listen,” a press aide said.

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