Legislation loosening the air quality standards for when field burning will be allowed in Idaho cleared a Senate committee Wednesday on a 6-1, party-line vote, after farmers from throughout the state spoke out in favor of it. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.

The change affects only ozone, not particulate pollution, the type of pollution that field-burning creates. But under Idaho’s current laws – established pursuant to a lawsuit settlement in 2008 – Idaho agreed to set standards for the days it allows field-burning that don’t exceed 75 percent of any federal air quality standard, for any pollutant. Now, the federal government has tightened its ozone standard. If Idaho made no change, that’d mean a reduction in potential burn days for farmers.

“Idaho has background ozone that is here due to no fault of Idaho’s farmers,” said Erik Olson, a wheat grower from Boundary County. “Our practices have no impact on ozone. … We do not have any control with ozone.”

The DEQ’s Crop Residue Advisory Board, which was formed after the court settlement, debated the issue during negotiated rule-making sessions over the summer. Environmental and public health advocates on the board said they’d accept a loosening of the ozone standard, but only if there was a commensurate tightening of the threshold for particulate pollution, to keep the overall effect on air quality even.

Though farmers were receptive to the idea, the DEQ decided to press ahead with just loosening the ozone standard and keeping the particulate pollution requirement for burn days unchanged. In response, the three representatives on the advisory board from environmental and health groups resigned in December.