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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, June 30, 2008 Burn ban should ease air pollution Developers in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties can't burn trees and brush to clear land slated for development. By Jeff Switzer Herald Writer Starting this week, and forever after, expect less of a haze floating over Snohomish County. In an effort to keep smoke from polluting the air, a permanent ban goes into effect Tuesday on burning piles of trees and brush to make room for housing projects in rural Snohomish, King and Pierce counties. The ban was approved in February by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency board, which has authority over pollution standards in the region. Developers didn't rise up against the agency's order to stop setting fire to trees and brush, said Snohomish County Councilman Mike Cooper, a member of the clean air board. "Early on in this process, a lot of developers agreed to this ban," Cooper said. "All of the data showed that banning outdoor burning of this type significantly reduces our carbon going into the air and improves our air quality." The new rule comes on top of an existing ban on outdoor burning in urban parts of the three largest Puget Sound counties. The region often comes close to violating federal pollution standards during hot summer days. Snohomish County produces an estimated 760 tons of fine smoke particulates each year from fires related to land clearing, agency spokesman Mike Schultz said. That's more than twice the amount of fine particulates pumped out by all Snohomish County cars and vehicles, Schultz said. More detailed figures were not immediately available Friday. In the summertime, 40 percent of all air pollution is from outdoor fires in the Puget Sound counties, and 43 percent comes from trains, planes and vehicles, Schultz said. The development community has reconciled itself to obeying the new law, said Mike Pattison of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. "It's the law and we'll live with it," Pattison said. "Maybe we could have done a better job expressing our opposition." He said he wished the clean air agency would have provided the developers with equipment to help grind up and dispose of the trees and brush they'll clear in rural areas. State law requires the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency expand the burn ban boundaries as yard waste recycling becomes more available and affordable. The agency's board stopped short of a proposed all-out ban in the three counties that would have looped in all yard waste burning by rural property owners -- not just for development projects, Schultz said. "It isn't economically feasible to chip, grind or haul substantial quantities of waste that's blown down or pruned on an annual basis," Schultz said. "The volume of this stuff is greater than we thought." A permanent ban on burning residential yard waste is expected to be up for debate again in the fall, Cooper said. Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.

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