September 17, 1996 in City

Burning Stops, But Growers Still Under Fire Idaho Growers Finished For Year, But Opponents Just Getting Started

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Idaho grass growers finished burning 9,000 acres of bluegrass fields last week and summed up the summer as harrowing and stressful.

Farmers were under constant attack this summer by clean air activists who say the smoke plumes are unhealthy and who want grass burning banned.

The Sandpoint-based Clean Air Coalition has led the charge. The group monitored the burning with a meteorologist and hired an attorney to help residents affected by smoke sue farmers. The coalition also found people whose illnesses, such as asthma and cystic fibrosis, were exacerbated by the smoke-filled skies.

“The group was organized and got some people to make an awful lot of noise. It’s been a horrible, harrowing year and very stressful for the farmers,” said Linda Clovis, a spokeswoman for the Intermountain Grass Growers.

“I don’t see things remaining the same for farmers in the future. They are real concerned about everything happening right now.”

Washington growers also have had a difficult year. The state Department of Ecology issued an emergency edict in March, reducing field burning by one-third this year. The cutback was upheld last week by a Thurston County Superior Court judge. It applies to nearly 60,000 acres of bluegrass fields statewide - mostly in Eastern Washington.

With the clock winding down on this year’s burning, the ruling makes it likely that only two-thirds of the Kentucky bluegrass burned in 1995 will be torched this year in Washington.

The Department of Ecology’s emergency rule calls for reducing burning by another one-third next year and phasing it out altogether in 1998 if a feasible economic alternative is available for farmers.

Even though this year’s burning is over in Idaho, coalition attorney Harvey Richman said the fight is just beginning. The group solicited people affected by grass smoke, and Richman plans to help them sue farmers.

Richman has six residents ready to file suit, including a young girl from Post Falls who leaves town during the burning season because she has cystic fibrosis.

“There are a great deal more people out there who have asked to be plaintiffs. We are trying to pick out the best examples,” Richman said. “The bottom line is this is the beginning of the end for grass burning.”

Richman makes no secret of the fact he is choosing certain adults and children, some healthy and some with pre-existing conditions, to make the best possible case against growers.

He expects to file several lawsuits in October or November.

“As soon as we get the paperwork out of the typewriter one suit will be filed in federal court and several others in state court,” Richman said.

An asthmatic Sandpoint woman, Sharon Buck, died from respiratory problems the day after some farmers torched their fields this summer.

Kelly McAnally, an asthmatic and a nurse at Kootenai Medical Center, was hospitalized last week with respiratory problems she and her doctor said was related to grass smoke.

“We have had some startling injuries here this summer that I believe are related to grass smoke,” Richman said. “This is not an idle threat. It may take us a couple of years to go through court but the grass growers could end up paying a horrendous price.”

Clovis blames much of the negative attention focused on grass growers this summer on the media. Growers burned four days for about 20 hours total this summer.

“The majority of people aren’t even aware the burning is happening,” Clovis said. “But the media has taken everything the Clean Air Coalition has said and given it front-page headlines. That has been the worst part.”

Richman disagrees. What hurt growers most was when grass smoke from the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation wafted into Coeur d’Alene instead of sailing northeast.

“That was the biggest faux pas,” Richman said. “Before those people said the smoke doesn’t affect us, so let them (farmers) do what they want. The people in Coeur d’Alene aren’t saying that anymore, they were miffed.”

The general public, Richman said, now has the same attitude Bonner County residents have adopted after receiving the vast majority of smoke for years.

“They are saying we are sick and tired of it and we not going to put up with it anymore. The grass growers are just beginning to hear the screams,” he said.

, DataTimes

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