Federal judge dismisses field burning lawsuit

A federal judge Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that claimed the state illegally discriminates against North Idaho residents with respiratory ailments by managing field burning smoke in a way that prevents them from leaving their homes and going to public schools, parks or courthouses when farmers are burning.

The class-action suit, filed in February by Sandpoint-based Safe Air For Everyone, charged that the state is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act in its regulation of field burning smoke in North Idaho.

One of the named plaintiffs is Alex Heisel, a Post Falls teenager with cystic fibrosis. Smoke on the Rathdrum Prairie during the late summer burning season allegedly aggravates her disease, and Heisel has to leave school and move to the smoke-free Priest Lake region during that period, according to the suit.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ruled that plaintiffs failed to allege discrimination as required for a claim under those statutes. Lodge also suggested the remedy the plaintiffs sought may be more appropriately addressed by the federal Clean Air Act, which regulates agricultural burning, or by a change in state policy regarding field burning.

“The research and analysis necessary to address and resolve the plaintiffs’ concerns can and should be undertaken by a legislative and/or administrative bodies who are better suited for such a task,” the judge said in dismissing the case.

The state argued that Idaho’s smoke-management program doesn’t treat sick people any differently from anyone else. “The benefits of the smoke management program are nondiscriminatory,” Deputy Attorney General Clay Smith told the court. “The reduction in the amount of small particulate matter … is the same for all in the same location.”