02/19/07 State bans field burning

The Division of Environmental Quality is telling Idaho farmers that they can no longer burn their fields. BAUER "It affects all agriculture in the state except what's on Indian reservations." DEQ's Martin Bauer says the ban is a result of last month's US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling ordering the EPA to reconsider its authorization of grass field burning in north Idaho. Growers in ten counties annually burn their Kentucky bluegrass fields to prevent disease and increase seed production. Bauer says DEQ is working with the EPA on possible options that would not violate the Clean Air Act. BAUER "The state is currently still looking at the legal aspects of what we can and can't do. We're still investigating that whole thing. We are in discussions with EPA as to what technically we would need to supply to them to get an approved state implementation plant which would allow agricultural burning." The bureaucratic wheels turn slowly and Bauer sees no chance of any field burning this year. BAUER "Even if we had everything ready to go today and submitted to EPA it would not be finished by the end of the summer." While the smoke may disappear so also may the open land as farmers begin to sell to developers who will turn the Rathdrum Prairie into suburban sprawl. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott