COUNTY BOARD ENACTS LAW TO MANDATE USE OF LESS POLLUTING LEAF BLOWERS
For Immediate Release: April 24, 2007
Contact: Chris Crane, Committee Coordinator
Environment & Energy Committee
Tel: (914) 995-2104
In its continuing effort to improve environmental practices in Westchester, the County Board passed legislation last night that requires the use of less polluting leaf blowers on county-owned land and by licensed home improvement contractors. In leading by example, the law applies to county employees and private contractors who maintain the county’s properties which includes a park system of over 17,000 acres. In addition, home improvement businesses engaged in outdoor work such as landscaping, gardening and arboriculture must verify that they are using the latest EPA approved leaf blowers in order to obtain or renew their licenses to do business in the county. The new law requires compliance by January 1, 2009.
County Legislator Thomas Abinanti (D-IN-WF, Greenburgh), Chair of the Board’s Environment & Energy Committee, said the legislation was consistent with other recent county initiatives to cut air pollution, including using compact fluorescent light bulbs at county facilities, reducing idling time for vehicles and retrofitting diesel engines.
“We must ‘think global’ but ‘act local’ when it comes to cutting pollution,” Abinanti said. “Global warming and ozone pollution are an accumulation of all of our individual activities. In the same way, some simple modifications to the way we each do things can add up to a significant reduction in the amount of pollutants we’re emitting.”
Some two-stroke engine leaf blowers can emit as much as 25 percent raw unburned gasoline in their exhaust. By removing 1,500 highly polluting two-stroke backpack leaf blowers from use and replacing them with leaf blowers that meet current EPA emissions standards, the City of Los Angeles has eliminated a potential of 14 tons of harmful emissions every year, according to California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Westchester is anticipating that using the new, more environmentally friendly equipment will make a significant difference in reducing air pollution and increasing citizen and government awareness regarding air quality.
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