Supreme Court won’t hear field-burning case

In a blow to clean-air activists, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear a case on field burning in Idaho.

Farmers believe it signals the end of years of litigation over the summertime torching of Kentucky bluegrass fields. Fewer than 100 Idaho growers are producing about $125 million worth of grass seed a year, mostly on Rathdrum Prairie in Kootenai County. The seed is used for lawns, golf courses and other landscaping needs across the nation.

“The courts have upheld the rights of the farmer, which is to say as long as they follow the law, then they’re protected,” said Linda Clovis, a Post Falls spokeswoman for growers.

“It’s a shame we had to go through a court battle to get to this point,” she added.

But clean-air advocates vowed to press on.

“We will pursue every avenue and legal theory available to us,” said Patti Gora of Pullman, a leader of Safe Air for Everyone, known as SAFE. “No one should have to die for golf course grass seed.”

Critics contend the burning pollutes the air and damages the health of half a million people living along the Idaho-Washington border. Farmers say burning is necessary to clear the fields of stubble and prepare them to grow the next year’s crop.

Washington has banned grass field burning, but Idaho has not.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that burning straw that is left on bluegrass fields after harvest is part of the production process and not subject to federal solid-waste disposal laws that could curtail the practice. SAFE’s appeal to the Supreme Court said the appellate court decision “leaves a gaping hole in the protection of public health.”

Gora contends at least three people have died in the region in recent years because of the smoke.

But the Supreme Court let the lower court ruling stand without comment.