Comment on FR Doc # E8-09269

Dear EPA, Citizens, and Agribusinesses, I am one of you - a tax-paying citizen, your neighbor, someone who strongly believes in individual rights as long as they do not limit the rights of others. The problem here, is that farmers' desire to burn their fields should not trump our rights to breathe clean air! When I moved to Careywood, Idaho in the Fall of 1998, I thought I had developed a bad case of bronchitis - constant coughing and difficulty breathing. It turns out I had unknowingly moved into an area right in the path of the smoke from field burning fires, which caused me to develop asthma (coupled with an inherited risk). I now have to pay several hundred dollars each year for medications and doctors visits, which are worsened during field burning, not to mention a dramatic impact on the quality of my life during these days. I am not joking when I say one day I was trying to wax my truck and had to stop and run inside because charred grass was literally falling from the sky onto my truck and onto me! I never had to take medications before, but now must take three different medications to manage the asthma I developed as a result of this field burning. The general public can only burn yard trash on two days in the Spring and 2 days in the Fall. Why do agribusinesses get special treatment? Advance notice of burns and a promise to burn "safely" does not help me breathe better on these days! Stopping the smoking does. These people do not have the right to damage our health and safety for the almighty dollar. I don't get to pump noxious, poisonous fumes into their homes and onto their property; that would be assault. Why are they legally allowed to assault us with their smoke? Please, please, please - do not allow field-burning to continue any more. There are many other ways to handle this problem, but they may cost the businesses a little more - I think they can and should afford it, as a cost of doing business ethically. WE ALL BREATHE THE SAME AIR - Let's try to keep it CLEAN!