Two Gop Candidates For Governor Defend Burning Of Grass Fields Brazier’s Stance Blunt: ‘You Stay Inside. You Take A Vacation.’

People who suffer the ill effects of grass smoke should stay inside or go on vacation when the fields are burned, Nona Brazier, a Republican candidate for governor, said Friday.

Brazier, the former King County GOP chairwoman, and state Sen. Pam Roach of Auburn, another gubernatorial candidate, defended the rights of grass-seed growers to burn their fields after harvest.

“You’ve got to burn to get the product. I have no problem with that at all,” Roach told a luncheon meeting of the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce Ag Bureau.

“The poor bluegrass people have gotten the message the state doesn’t want them anymore,” Brazier said.

After the meeting, both expanded on their beliefs that the state Department of Ecology should not force an end to the practice of burning stubble, which growers say is necessary to keep weeds at bay and increase yields.

The state has ordered a 30 percent cut in the amount of fields burned this year, to be followed by another 30 percent cut in 1997 and an elimination of the practice by 1998. The order affects some 40,000 acres of bluegrass, 26,400 of them in Spokane County.

State Ecology Director Mary Riveland said this spring that burning poses a public health threat. Spokane doctors say they see a marked increase in respiratory problems such as asthma and emphysema during grass-burning season.

The burning ban will put the growers out of business, said Brazier. So if the Ecology Department enforces a ban, it should make clear the consequences.

“They need to say that we’re going to put the bluegrass people out of business,” she said.

Asked what people affected by the smoke should do if burning is allowed to continue, Brazier replied: “You stay inside. You take a vacation. You take (herbs) to build up your resistance,” she said.

She herself followed a similar regimen for allergies to Timothy grass, Brazier said. She added she is not familiar with all the health issues raised by opponents of field burning, but “I’ve seen what the bluegrass people have to say about it.”

Roach said grass-seed growers have a right to torch their fields if that’s what it takes to stay in business.

“We have an industry that employs many, many people here,” she said. “For a few days a year, they do their burning.

“They have a historical presence here … They have a right to burn.”

Grass-field burning has occurred for about 30 years. The industry’s search for an alternative that growers will find cost-effective has thus far been unsuccessful.

After the ban was announced, grass growers estimated some 200 production jobs could be lost.

Under Riveland’s order, the reductions in 1997 will be subject to public hearings. But Riveland’s boss, Democratic Gov. Mike Lowry, is not running for re-election and his successor, whether Democrat or Republican, will have the right to replace her. That could lead to a reversal of the ban.

Roach said she would rein in Ecology, and make it more amenable to business.

“As governor, I’m going to be the watchdog,” she said.

, DataTimes