A local activist, Ellen Singer, organized a protest to express her feelings about field burning on July 6th. Yesterday marked the last day the Olympic Trials would be in town. A last ditch effort to reach out to the community to remind them that the field burning will now start since the Trials are over. She is trying to get as much attention on the issue to put pressure on the Governor to utilize his executive power to ban the practice once and for all.

"Fewer than 1,000 people benefit financially from field burning, yet more than 400,000 suffer — is that fair? He even said he supports a ban. So what’s stopping him?" questioned Ellen, in The Register Guard editorial section (July 7th, 2008.)

Some members and volunteers from Oregon Toxics Alliance showed up as well to show their support.

The idea behind the energy is to put pressure on the Governor from people writing editorials and getting more media attention. Many opponents to field burning feel that Olympic athletes and spectators were getting better treatment than local residents.

The claim that field burning would decimate businesses is just plain false because there are plenty of profitable solutions for the farmer. A waste crop could be turned into cellulosic ethanol for local fuel production, the grass could be used as a feed grain, or the grass could be used as mulch.