Dust Wars

It appears that a new genre of referenda may be emerging from the Arizona dessert.

Communities across the southwest have been forced to adopt new dust control plans to comply with state and federal pollution laws. But the kind of longstanding businesses that kick up a lot of dust -- horse farms especially -- see these laws as a mortal threat. They appear to be taking to the local ballots to try to block these laws. First came a referendum in Scottsdale, Arizona, which was pulled from the ballot after a legal challenge. Now comes a referendum in Cave Creek.

Federal regulators have been pushing citiies in Arizona and throughout the West to control dust in the name of reducing air pollution. In Scottsdale, Arizona, however, the city council's efforts to comply with that anti-dust mandate has sparked a backlash. The best-named political action committee of the year, Unjust Dust, has qualified a referendum for the Sept. 2 ballot (pending judicial review) to repeal the anti-dust measures. What's the complaint? Commercial property owners and equestrians say it would be too difficult and expensive to keep down dust in what is, after all, a desert.