Yes, EPA, grass smoke really does hurt and kill people

What part of breathing does the EPA not understand?

By its very name, the Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to protect the environment.

But recently in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, it became apparent the EPA didn't study the effects of the grass smoke on people living here when the federal agency changed a law that allowed the grass burning to continue.

The EPA is in court because the American Lung Association and Safe Air For Everyone sued it to undo this rule because the agency apparently issued the decision before finding out if grass smoke hurts or kills anyone.

Smoke does hurt and kills people. You read it here first.

The hundreds of doctors who signed petitions to end the burning know this. The family of the woman who died in 2000 because of the grass burning knows it.

It looks like the three-judge panel knows it, too. There should be a decision soon from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that will show the EPA was really blowing smoke when it protected the grass growers.

Look for this decision to be the beginning of the end of the ancient, obnoxious practice of burning grass fields in the Rathdrum Prairie only when the winds were blowing north to Bonner County.

? David Keyes is publisher of the Daily Bee.