‘Environmental Hero’ Says She’s Not Done Yet

In her fight to ban grass burning, Patricia Hoffman has been accused of everything from throwing a “tantrum in print” to being a “knee-jerk environmental extremist.”

The 48-year-old Valley veterinarian also has been called a hero.

In November, Hoffman was named one of the Washington Environmental Council’s “Environmental Heroes.” The award, presented by then-Gov. Mike Lowry in Seattle, lauds her efforts “to keep Washington one of the most livable places in the world.”

But perhaps even sweeter to the activist than the award, Washington’s outgoing Ecology Department director, Mary Riveland, this month issued a permanent ban on grass-field burning in Washington, effective in 1998.

Hoffman, an asthma sufferer and a founder of Save Our Summers, the Spokane-based group formed in 1995 to fight grass-field burning, might be tempted to revel in her success.

Instead, Hoffman said she is bracing for even more work.

“We’re not done yet,” said Hoffman, who worries grass-burning advocates will work to thwart the ban in court or in the state Legislature.

“The grass-growing industry is very busy.”

She and other Save Our Summers members are now looking eastward toward the Rathdrum Prairie, where Idaho grass growers still send plumes of late-summer smoke into the air.

“When I first moved to Spokane, people who I met elsewhere mistakenly said, ‘Oh, that’s where it rains all the time,”’ Hoffman said. “Now, they say, ‘That’s the place with the dirty air.’ I don’t want Spokane to be known as the place with dirty air.

“A year ago, everybody said ‘Don’t bother, it can’t be done (in Washington).’ ” Hoffman said. “Now, we have regulations for the first time in 30 years.”

Hoffman, who is painfully shy, said it was not easy to take a leadership role in the fight against grass burning. “My fear of public speaking was greater than my fear of death,” she said.

A year and a half later, Hoffman hasn’t changed all that much. Perhaps it is her quiet persona that helped her during public forums where she faced hostile grass growers. They see her work as a threat to their livelihoods.

Yvonne Bucklin, regional director for the American Lung Association, recalls Save Our Summer’s first meeting a year and a half ago.

Nine opponents of grass burning showed up, along with an equal number of grass growers.

“It was pretty contentious, to say the least,” said Bucklin. “Tricia looked at me and said, “I can’t do this. There are a lot of angry people here.”’

Slowly, however, Hoffman has emerged as one of the movement’s most effective spokespeople. Bucklin credits Hoffman’s success to her reliance on the facts and her ability to follow through.

“She listened to people’s stories, and put a human touch on what happens when smoke hits an area,” Bucklin said.

Tim Connor, an activist and researcher with the Energy Research Foundation, a group that has conducted a number of studies on local air quality, described the grass-burning conflict as volatile - with the potential for violence.

“It’s never really reached that level, in part thanks to Tricia,” Connor said. “A part of Tricia’s personality has really rubbed off on the movement.”

In fact, Connor said Hoffman’s diligence has earned her respect even among her most vocal opponents.

Wayne Meyer, a Idaho state legislator from Rathdrum who has grown bluegrass on his family’s 800-acre farm since 1965, said he tries to avoid Hoffman.

That doesn’t mean he isn’t impressed by her.

“She’s been very effective,” said Meyer. “She’s not somebody who comes out with her arms flailing. She’s very good as a public speaker, and people pay attention to good speakers.”

Meyer said his disagreement with Hoffman hinges on what he calls her use of emotion, rather than scientific fact, in the battle over grass burning.

He added that in Idaho, unlike in Washington, the state Legislature must approve rules passed by the Ecology Department. As a result, Meyer said, anti-burning groups face an even tougher fight in their quest for a ban in Idaho.

Hoffman, a Denver native, said she has no illusions about the struggle ahead.

She was appointed in December to the Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority’s advisory council. In that capacity, she said she plans to seek solutions other cities have used to clean up their air.

As well, she’ll continue to coordinate Save Our Summer’s efforts with those of Idaho’s Clean Air Coalition in an effort to end grass burning east of the state line.

Smoke, she said, doesn’t stop at the border.