Hazy victory in field burning lawsuit
By Elizabeth Wynne Johnson
A settlement’s been reached in an ongoing dispute over field burning in the Inland Northwest. People who suffer breathing problems because of the smoke will receive money from bluegrass farmers. But there are no clear winners.
The field-burning issue is still smoldering in the Idaho State Supreme Court. Opponents this week asked the court to find that the state Department of Agriculture acted capriciously in deciding that there is no economically viable alternative to torching the fields. In addition, two lawsuits are pending in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Fourteen year old Alexandria Heisel lives in Post Falls. But every summer, she and her mother are forced to leave while her father stays behind. Summer is the time of year when bluegrass farmers burn their stubble. Alex has cystic fibrosis. The smoke gets in her lungs and destroys more of what little good tissue she has left. She was in the court room to hear a judge approve the settlement of a lawsuit on her behalf.
ALEX/ACT I don’t really know what they said. It’s a lot of big words. I don’t understand it. [Father: We’ll probably have a conversation on the way back to school.]
The conversation will be about how farmers will have to pay. Children and adults with illnesses such as cystic fibrosis and asthma will share in 600-thousand dollars. But Alex’s father says he has mixed emotions about the settlement.
HEISEL/ACT We didn’t stop field burning, and that was our ultimate goal. But the recognition of the fact that it did hurt Alex and it does hurt people is a good step, a positive step in that direction.
Attorney Peter Erbland represents the grass farmers. He says the judgment is nominal: a cost of doing business. The important thing, he says, is that the state’s high court has upheld the farmers’ right to rely on field burning. Farmers contend it’s the only economically viable way to clear their fields each year.
ERBLAND/ACT They are pleased with the Idaho Supreme Court’s affirmation of their right to practice this part of their agricultural heritage.
Heritage is the key word here. Ultimately, Erbland says the real threat to farming may have less to with lawsuits and more to do with the rising price of real estate.
ERBLAND/ACT The irony of it all we think is that the changes that will occur will not be brought be legal action, or legislation, but more by economic forces that cause the farmers to choose to sell their land to developers rather than continue to practice agriculture and to farm.
Patti Gora of the group Safe Air For Everyone doesn’t want to wait for suburban sprawl to put an end to field burning. And this settlement isn’t enough either. She promises more lawsuits, and hopes for new legislation this year. One proposal is to change an Idaho state department of agriculture policy of not disclosing the exact time and location of the burns.
GORA/ACT The only thing left for asthmatics, heart patients, CF patients is to run for their lives. … So what’s the harm in letting the public know where exactly and when burning is going to take place?
The skies are clear for now: the field burning season won’t pick up again for several months. All parties leave the courtroom this day knowing it’ll be business as usual this summer.
Copyright 2006 Boise State Radio
A settlement’s been reached in an ongoing dispute over field burning in the Inland Northwest. People who suffer breathing problems because of the smoke will receive money from bluegrass farmers. But there are no clear winners.
The field-burning issue is still smoldering in the Idaho State Supreme Court. Opponents this week asked the court to find that the state Department of Agriculture acted capriciously in deciding that there is no economically viable alternative to torching the fields. In addition, two lawsuits are pending in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Fourteen year old Alexandria Heisel lives in Post Falls. But every summer, she and her mother are forced to leave while her father stays behind. Summer is the time of year when bluegrass farmers burn their stubble. Alex has cystic fibrosis. The smoke gets in her lungs and destroys more of what little good tissue she has left. She was in the court room to hear a judge approve the settlement of a lawsuit on her behalf.
ALEX/ACT I don’t really know what they said. It’s a lot of big words. I don’t understand it. [Father: We’ll probably have a conversation on the way back to school.]
The conversation will be about how farmers will have to pay. Children and adults with illnesses such as cystic fibrosis and asthma will share in 600-thousand dollars. But Alex’s father says he has mixed emotions about the settlement.
HEISEL/ACT We didn’t stop field burning, and that was our ultimate goal. But the recognition of the fact that it did hurt Alex and it does hurt people is a good step, a positive step in that direction.
Attorney Peter Erbland represents the grass farmers. He says the judgment is nominal: a cost of doing business. The important thing, he says, is that the state’s high court has upheld the farmers’ right to rely on field burning. Farmers contend it’s the only economically viable way to clear their fields each year.
ERBLAND/ACT They are pleased with the Idaho Supreme Court’s affirmation of their right to practice this part of their agricultural heritage.
Heritage is the key word here. Ultimately, Erbland says the real threat to farming may have less to with lawsuits and more to do with the rising price of real estate.
ERBLAND/ACT The irony of it all we think is that the changes that will occur will not be brought be legal action, or legislation, but more by economic forces that cause the farmers to choose to sell their land to developers rather than continue to practice agriculture and to farm.
Patti Gora of the group Safe Air For Everyone doesn’t want to wait for suburban sprawl to put an end to field burning. And this settlement isn’t enough either. She promises more lawsuits, and hopes for new legislation this year. One proposal is to change an Idaho state department of agriculture policy of not disclosing the exact time and location of the burns.
GORA/ACT The only thing left for asthmatics, heart patients, CF patients is to run for their lives. … So what’s the harm in letting the public know where exactly and when burning is going to take place?
The skies are clear for now: the field burning season won’t pick up again for several months. All parties leave the courtroom this day knowing it’ll be business as usual this summer.
Copyright 2006 Boise State Radio