  |
|
|
Department of Ecology News Release - Feb. 4, 2004
04-032
SPOKANE - A Waitsburg farmer has been fined $11,000 by the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) for illegally burning wheat stubble last September.
Norman Hansen was given permission to burn 194 acres, called "Michael's Place," on Sept. 17, 2003, east of Dixie in Walla Walla County. Ecology inspectors later documented that Hansen had burned an additional 317 acres northwest of Dixie.
Ecology's "daily burn decision" on Sept. 17 required that burning be conducted in Walla Walla County only by those who received individual calls, in a system called "metering." Although Hansen had the proper permits, the permits clearly required that the daily burn decision be followed. Through the metering system, Hansen had been told he could burn only the 194-acre parcel.
Ecology's burn team and its delegated local permitting authorities review about 1,500 burn-permit applications each year and allow burning only when ventilation is adequate. Ecology makes daily burn decisions in different ways, depending on the weather and air quality, how many people have permits to burn and how many acres (and therefore how much smoke) the permits represent.
One option is to call a "no-burn day." Another option is a "limited burn day" where, in a specific area, growers can each burn a certain number of acres. A third option is a "burn day" in which growers who have permits can burn with no acreage restrictions.
The fourth option is called a "metered burn day." On a metered burn day, growers receive individual calls to grant permission to burn certain fields or parts of fields during specific hours.
"Almost all farmers know now to get a permit before burning, but we still see permit conditions being violated," said Grant Pfeifer, Ecology's air quality manager for Eastern Washington. "The reason we require permits and place conditions on them is to protect the public from the harm that smoke can cause."
Breathing smoke from burning fields can irritate people's sensitive membranes and aggravate breathing problems. The smoke contains dangerous compounds such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and small particles that carry toxins into the lungs.
Ecology has not issued a monetary penalty for illegal agricultural burning since September 2001.
"We've seen enormous improvement in the way farmers plan for burning their fields," Pfiefer said. "Complaints about smoke have decreased quite a bit."
In 2003, Ecology logged 14 agricultural burning complaints. By contrast, in the mid 1990s, Ecology was receiving hundreds of complaints each year.
###
Contact: Jani Gilbert, public information manager, 509-329-3495; pager, 509-622-3073
Copyright © Washington State Department of Ecology. See http://www.ecy.wa.gov/copyright.html.
