Officials Aren’t Protecting Us From Smoke
On a Thursday morning this summer, in a downtown hearing room, Spokane County commissioners Steve Hasson and Phil Harris made clear they didn’t want public health to get in the way of the grass-burning industry.
For the county’s 106 grass growers this was great news. It was not great news for those of us who have to continue breathing the fallout from an archaic practice that is unhealthful to many and environmentally obnoxious to most.
Grass burning in Spokane County is more than a summer eyesore. According to Department of Ecology calculations, 743 tons of particulates were released into our air during the 1994 burn season. The key facts about these tiny particles are that they can be lodged deep in the lungs where they can cause everything from coughing and wheezing to triggering attacks of asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. And those are just the short-term health effects.
The at-risk population in Spokane County includes 20,000 people with asthma, a like number with chronic bronchitis and nearly 3,000 with emphysema. Add these statistics to the spectrum of environmental and related economic costs and it’s easy to understand why this controversy will be with us until the burning stops.
The actions of Hasson and Harris this summer speak volumes as to why the air continues to be fouled by special-interest politics. By holding two of the five seats on the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority, Hasson and Harris have considerable clout in deciding how many acres can be burned.
Whatever perceptions the public may have about the burning being moderated as a result of the annual public outcry, the facts are otherwise. Earlier this year in Olympia, the grass growers succeeded in getting a deregulation-minded Legislature to swiftly pass bills allowing them to burn whenever they choose.
Next was SCAPCA. At its July meeting, the question on SCAPCA’s table was whether to schedule workshops to hear public testimony on the fieldburning issue. John Cornwall, the president of the Grass Growers Association, opposed the workshops on the grounds they would “greatly discriminate against the grass growers.”
Commissioner Hasson sided with Mr. Cornwall. Not only did he oppose the workshops, he also said he opposed acreage limits for the growers because it “affects market forces.” Instead, he said, he favored the industry having the opportunity to regulate itself.
SCAPCA did allow one workshop. It was held July 19 and, according to SCAPCA staff, 94 percent of the 369 comments received were in opposition to the field burning. Tellingly, none of the SCAPCA board members attended the workshop.
At the board’s August meeting, commissioner Harris dismissed the results of the workshop as “unscientific.” As for the hundreds of people who wrote or attended the hearing, Harris said he’d prefer to reach his decision by “walking around and talking to people.” He also echoed Hasson’s earlier opposition to interfering with “market forces” by putting restrictions on the grass seed industry’s ability to expand. No mention was made of the rights of people to breathe healthy air. No one explained how “market forces” will protect health and the environment when the grass burners aren’t asked to pay a dime for resulting health costs or lost tourism.
In the end, Harris made the motion (it passed) that regulations not be discussed again until the middle of winter. The significance? The board has rescheduled its discussion until after the burn season for a time when public attention will be elsewhere.
Currently, the process works the following way. The growers and their lawyers go to all SCAPCA meetings. They go to defend their “right” to burn grass and their “right” to burn an increasingly greater acreage. As “proof” that smoke is not a problem in the country, they say the public doesn’t come to SCAPCA meetings. The SCAPCA board seems to buy this argument. The outrageous assumption here is that the public is supposed to volunteer its time and energy to come to meetings and politely request clean air.
SCAPCA’s failure to protect our air is not something we should allow to be cooled for a quiet, mid-winter meeting. The issues were clear. No other industry would be allowed exemption from regulation based upon the argument that it can’t make as much money if restrictions are imposed. Yet, that is what’s happening here under the banner of “market forces” and the hallowed right to pollute.
There are alternatives to burning. None will be implemented so long as more money can be made by the unfettered burning of bluegrass. Without government doing its job - adopting regulations to protect public right - there will be no incentive for alternatives. SCAPCA has the authority to put in place acreage caps that will lead to a phase-out of field burning. We should demand they use that authority.
Delivering that message is all the more important now. We need to let Hasson, Harris, and the other SCAPCA board members know that this shameful sell-out won’t be tolerated. The alternative is a totally deregulated grass seed industry and a future of smokefilled summer skies. It’s our choice.
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