Comment on FR Doc # N/A

I am horrified that an agency charged with protecting our air quality intends to allow field burning in Idaho again. As a creature that requires clean air to sustain life AND as a farmer in Northern Idaho, I know with certainty that field burning compromises the health of all the residents in N. Idaho and Washington and Montana. This can be quickly ascertained by visiting the region during the fall when both harvesting and burning are occurring. The combination of dust and smoke in the air keeps many of us indoors for up to a month, gasping for air, and keeps our Emergency Rooms busy. Furthermore, as a farmer, I also know that viable alternatives to field burning exist, and it is simply people's reluctance to change that stops those alternatives from being implemented. It is unconscionable to jeopardize public health simply because of humans' innate tendency to resist change. If those changes mean higher prices for the final product, so be it. The end consumer should bear the true cost of the products they demand ~ it is the beauty of a genuine market economy. The market will find its natural level. If that new level means there is less demand for grass, there are many other crops grass farmers can profitably produce. One only has to look at the Willamette Valley for an example of the exciting and profitable changes that can occur when the public chooses to prioritize the good of the whole community and not just the grass farmers.