With spring and lawn care season right around the corner, New Yorkers aren’t only preparing for warmer weather and enjoying the great outdoors: They’re steeling themselves for the irritating ramp up of loud, dirty gas-powered lawn equipment.
That’s because it doesn’t matter if you live on Long Island or Buffalo, we've all had the jarring experience of having a peaceful day interrupted by an obnoxiously loud gas-powered leaf blower or other lawn equipment that’s spewing fumes from its engine.
These machines are not only staggeringly loud, but they also produce a shocking amount of air pollution. That makes them more than a Saturday morning annoyance – they’re also a health hazard.
Nationwide, New York State ranks third in the nation for fine particulate pollution and fourth for global warming pollution from dirty gas-powered lawn equipment. Pollution from gas-powered lawn equipment contributes to ground-level ozone and fine particulate pollution (PM 2.5) and emits high levels of carcinogens like benzene, along with other toxic compounds.
Even short-term exposure to these pollutants can cause or contribute to asthma, heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, premature death and more.
For its small size, gas powered lawn equipment packs a big punch when it comes to air pollution. Incredibly, studies show that operating a gas-powered leaf blower for just one hour produces as much smog-forming pollution as driving a car 1,100 miles – the distance from Albany to Jacksonville, Florida.
These devices also make it harder to address climate change. It's estimated that gas-powered lawn equipment in New York alone produced almost 1.4 million tons of global warming pollution in 2020 – equal to the climate emissions released by more than 300,000 cars.
And then there’s the noise. This too is more than just annoying – it poses a significant health threat as well. Most gas-powered leaf blowers exceed 70 decibels measured at 50 feet, which is considered dangerous to hearing. Additionally, this noise impacts the immune system, causes adverse cardiovascular effects, and impairs the learning, hearing, sleep, and language development of children. Acoustic research also shows that gas-powered leaf blower’s distinctive low frequency noise penetrates further than other machine-generated sound waves, even through solid walls.
But cleaner air is within grasp for New Yorkers: a group of New York legislators have put forth a proposal to help lawn care companies and local government maintenance crews switch from dirty gas-powered lawn equipment to cleaner, quieter electric tools.
State Senator Liz Krueger (Manhattan) and state Assemblyman Steven Otis (Port Chester and New Rochelle) have introduced bills S1574 and A2657, which would create an electric landscaping equipment rebate program. This would go a long way towards reducing global warming pollution, improving air quality and reducing noise pollution from gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn equipment by promoting the adoption of quieter, zero-emission landscaping equipment.
This legislation has already garnered bipartisan votes of support in the state Senate, which `has already approved it. The bill is also broadly supported by a diverse set of constituencies and interests, including over one hundred public health, environmental and community groups, lawn equipment manufacturers, and equipment retailers like Home Depot.
With support from unusual allies like this, it will hopefully send a clear message to members of the New York Assembly to join their Senate colleagues and take action to quickly to pass A2657 and then send it to Governor Hochul’s desk for her signature.
Electric lawn equipment is generally cleaner, quieter and easier to use. These electric alternatives are often just as capable as their fossil fuel-powered counterparts and, over a lifetime of use, cost less to operate.
It’s time to join the call for cleaner, quieter lawn equipment in New York. Hopefully, Albany will join the call.
Blair Horner is senior policy advisor with the New York Public Interest Research Group.
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