Field burning dispute likely settled

Washington farmers and clean air activists are on the verge of settling a decade-long fight over field burning.

Both sides have agreed to a Washington state oversight program aimed at protecting air quality, while allowing wheat growers to burn field stubble.

The Washington State Department of Ecology is expected to formally release the proposal this week, with public hearings to follow next month in cities across Eastern Washington. The new rule will formalize what’s been taking place for several years, said Tim Connor, who represented the Spokane clean air advocacy group Save Our Summers during the lengthy rulemaking process.

“We can’t guarantee we won’t have smokeouts, but the management program Ecology is using is a good one,” he said. “Complaints are way down.”

Save Our Summers sued the state in 1999, claiming smoke from the annual burning of cereal grain field stubble put residents at risk. The group had earlier helped push for a total phaseout of bluegrass field burning in Washington. The practice remains legal in Idaho.

The proposed changes in oversight of cereal grain field burning in Washington stems from a settlement reached after the 1999 lawsuit, Connor said. As part of the settlement, the state was required to develop new cereal field burning regulations by fall of this year.

The centerpiece of the rule gives the state flexibility in deciding when farmers are allowed to burn.

Save Our Summers originally pushed for a strict pollution threshold limit at which field burning would be halted, but the group agreed to give more leeway to the Department of Ecology because of improvements in weather forecasting and smoke monitoring technology, Connor said. Under the proposal, additional burning would be allowed only if weather is expected to disperse the smoke.

Department of Ecology officials will make burn decisions based on meteorological forecasts and after reviewing the latest air quality data gathered by the network of 10 pollution monitoring stations across Eastern Washington’s wheat country.

“It makes sense to give them this flexibility,” Connor said. “What we’re really interested in is results.”

Gretchen Borck, director of issues for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, said the group supports the change because it offers a custom-tailored response depending on local conditions. “It’s not one size fits all,” she said.

Borck added that wheat growers continue to search for alternatives to field burning, including new varieties of wheat with straw that breaks down faster and ways to use the straw, such as turning it into ethanol fuel. Field burning remains a favored tool by many farmers, however, because of its ability to remove stubble while also reducing pests and disease.

The proposed rule was developed by an advisory group that included farmers, health experts and clean air advocates. Connor, with Save Our Summers, said there was “virtual consensus” among committee members over the proposal.

Although the changes have yet to be written into law, most of the program is already being used by Ecology, Connor said. He credits the program for helping to “dramatically” reduce complaints from residents over smoky air.

In recent years, about 100,000 acres of wheat fields have been burned each season, which is down from roughly 230,000 acres burned in 1998.

No smoke at ground level is the ultimate goal of Ecology’s field burning oversight program, said Karen Wood, outdoor burning manager for the agency’s regional office in Spokane. While atmospheric conditions aren’t always predictable, the custom-tailored approach seems the best compromise.

“It appears to be working,” Wood said. “We’re very happy that it appears both sides are supportive of the program.”

Public hearings on the proposed rule will take place next month in five cities across Eastern Washington, including Spokane. Dates have not been set for the hearings. The rule is expected to be in place by the middle of summer, by the time burning season begins.