Change to Idaho’s field burning program heads to EPA for approval

A proposed change to Idaho’s field burning program has been approved by state regulators and lawmakers and will now go to the Environmental Protection Agency for a final OK.  The change, which is meant to avoid a major reduction in allowable burn days for farmers, is opposed by some environmental and public health groups but supported by farm organizations.Farmers testified in favor of a bill that makes the amendment during Idaho’s recent legislative session and lawmakers supported it by a combined vote of 91-12.Sen. Mark Harris, a Republican rancher from Soda Springs, said he didn’t believe opponents’ claims that the change would endanger public health. He said it would actually increase the number of allowable burn days, which would spread field burning over a longer period and thus help protect public health.“I think it will be beneficial to everybody who burns crop residue across the state,” Harris said. “It gives growers more days to burn their crop residue and it gives (the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality) more days to manage their program.”Idaho farmers burn about 40,000 to 50,000 acres a year.DEQ can approve a burn request only if ozone and small particulate matter (PM 2.5) levels aren’t expected to exceed 75 percent of the national standard for those air pollutants.But the federal standard for ozone was tightened in October 2015, which will reduce the number of allowable burn days in Idaho by 33-50 percent, according to DEQ estimates.To avoid that, DEQ has proposed loosening Idaho’s ozone threshold to 90 percent of the federal standard. Environmental and public health advocate groups wanted to tighten the state’s PM 2.5 threshold to offset the loosening of the ozone standard.