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Proposed ban on barrel-burning is controversial Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Agri News staff writer
ST. PAUL -- Thom Petersen said he left the Rock Creek store where he stops to buy coffee each day in a hurry after he mentioned legislation to ban backyard burning.
It wasn't a very popular idea with the 10 farmers gathered at the store, he said. Nor has it been popular with members of Minnesota Farmers Union, said Petersen, the group's government relations director.
Paying more than $100 a month for a dumpster when they can burn now for free won't sit well and the availability of garbage pickup in some areas may be another problem, said Petersen, who confessed to being a former burn barrel user. One good thing is that the legislation is phased in, with the exemption set to expire on Jan. 1, 2010, Petersen said, and he's willing to talk more with members about the issue. Chris Radatz, Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation's public policy director, said that before burning is banned statewide, the Legislature needs to make sure pickup is available, is convenient and is reasonably priced. Rep. Mary Ellen Otremba, DFL-Long Prairie, said time and money are the reasons farmers burn trash. They won't stop planting corn to take their trash to a pick up site on a certain day, she said. Mark Gamm, Dodge County Environmental Quality director, said burning trash is deeply ingrained for some. Gamm testified in support of HF2802 on behalf of the Minnesota Solid Waste Administrators Association. He told of hunting pheasant only a half mile from the Dodge County Transfer Station and finding a burn barrel out by itself. Another day, he came upon the burn barrel again and found it being tended by a young man with an elderly woman sitting in the front seat of a car watching. In a 2005 survey, it was found that 45 percent of rural residents statewide still burn or burn and bury their garbage, said Mark Rust, solid waste planner with the state Pollution Control Agency. The percentage varies by region, with the greatest density of household burning in the southern part of the state. In southwest Minnesota, 64 percent of rural residents burn their household waste and in southeast Minnesota, 58 percent do. In northwest Minnesota, 38 percent of rural residents burn, and in the northeast the number drops to 36 percent. In the central region, only 30 percent of rural residents burn their garbage. The Pollution Control Agency has been putting out different types of education regarding open burning since 1995, Rust said. The agency recently revamped its Web site and has new educational materials. The agency is working with 12 southwest Minnesota counties to focus on educating the public about the dangers of burning and to address infrastructure needs. As part of the project, a survey was done at Farmfest last year asking people who burn garbage if they would change their habit if they had convenient disposal options. About half responded they would be willing to change, Rust said. Petersen encouraged the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to do more education. Rep. Tim Faust, DFL-Mora, asked if there would be educational efforts made before the state came out and said "thou shall not do this anymore." Rep. Paul Gardner, DFL-Shoreview, who introduced the bill to end the burning exemption for farm households, said he wants to make education a focus of the bill because a lot of people will stop burning when they realize what is released when they burn their garbage. There isn't enough money nor enough people to enforce no burning regulations, so educating people is the only way to solve the problem, he said. Gamm said Dodge County hasn't done a lot of education because it's expensive. Once a year, the county pays for a colored advertising explaining county laws regarding waste disposal. He said about 20 percent of the waste coming to the county's transfer station comes from rural residents. Most are repeat customers. The station charges $3 a bag. On average, a family of four generates a ton of garbage a year, Gamm said, but families can reduce that by recycling. "If a farmer recycled his bottles, cans, paper products and composted his food waste, he probably wouldn't have that much left," Gamm said. Rep. Al Juhnke, DFL-Willmar, encouraged Gardner to work with the farm groups. "I don't think this is a one-size fits all," he said. Farmers are innovative, Gardner said, and they will have innovative ideas to dispose of household garbage other than having garbage trucks going driveway to driveway on five-ton gravel roads. Some counties have drop sites and others hire haulers to sit at certain sites during set hours, Rust said. Several lawmakers and Radatz emphasized that farm waste and household waste need to be treated differently. "No. 1, you shouldn't have burn barrels for household waste," Juhnke said. He does appraisal work in rural Kandiyohi County and rarely sees a burn barrel. However, a 45-gallon or 60-gallon collection device won't work for a farm, Juhnke said. Gamm is concerned that a possible side effect of a burning ban will be more dumping in public areas. There will be resistance because burning is free, he said. |
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