If clean air advocates hope to see an end to field burning on the Rathdrum Prairie, they’d better start praying for another pollution threat – excessive real estate development. That, or they should keep their fingers crossed that the full Idaho Senate will reject House Bill 33, which, common sense would tell us, would bring an end to a serious search for an alternative to field burning.

Basically, the proposed legislation endorses the practice of field burning unless an “economically viable alternative” can be found that produces the same agriculture results or better – and doesn’t cost the farmers a cent more to grow. By the time University of Idaho researchers discover an alternative, if they continued to look in earnest, the prairie could be subdivided.

Strengthened by a recent favorable court ruling, advocates of field burning are only a full Senate vote and governor’s signature away from substantial state protection for their controversial practice. An appeal and a lengthy court test are possible. But the farmers would have breathing room to keep the status quo until they sell their farms to a developer for a healthy profit.

If the legislation passes, grass-seed farmers will be the big winners. But there’ll be losers, too. Residents north of the Rathdrum area grass fields, to Sandpoint, Lake Pend Oreille and beyond, will continue to receive a snoot full of smoke, particularly those suffering respiratory problems. Although the grass-field industry is important to the area, it shouldn’t have a license to suffocate. The Senate should reject the bill to keep the heat on the farmers to find a better way to do business.

Interestingly, the three North Idaho representatives who voted with the 49-20 House majority for the measure live south of the prairie: House District 5 Reps. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls; Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene; and House District 2 Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries. Usually, farmers burn fields when the wind blows north toward lower-population areas.

North Idaho senators should consider the fate of former representative Wayne Meyer before they vote for this bill.

For most of his five terms, Meyer, a grass grower, was invulnerable, brushing aside token opposition at election time and gaining power in the Statehouse. During his final term, he was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and was a member of the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee. He was able to use his clout to help Kootenai County win reinstatement of the half-cent sales tax and to land funding for the new health science building at North Idaho College.

Yet, he was defeated soundly in the 2004 Republican primary election by Phil Hart, a former Constitution Party member, who campaigned on his opposition to field burning.

Grass farmers would be welcome to stay on the prairie forever, if they could find an alternative to field burning. Except for the few weeks of field burning in August and September, they contribute much to North Idaho’s quality of life. Unfortunately, House Bill 33 gives them a reason not to search in good faith for an alternative.