Village of New Paltz trustees may be looking at reining in the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. Generating much more pollution than two-stroke engines, leaf blowers used for an hour belch out the hydrocarbons from driving a gasoline-powered car for 1,100 miles, according to a 2015 EPA-funded study. Using the tool also creates sounds loud enough to damage human hearing after as little as two hours, according to a CDC report from 2017.
Trustee Alexandra Wojcik advised at the January 27 village board meeting that this was a topic of interest among Environmental Policy Board (EPB) members. Wojcik said that EPB members, who were initially concerned with the noise impacts, were curious if trustees would like to be educated on the subject. Wojcik also took some time to research regulations that have been put in place to regulate leaf blowers in other municipalities, pronouncing some of them as needlessly complicated because they’re based on times of day or year.
A brief discussion showed that consequences of any kind of ban could include making it more difficult for people who are older or have physical limitations to get leaves out of the way, but deputy mayor KT Tobin noted that encouraging people not to remove them at all is another option. Fallen leaves disrupt the lawn aesthetic, which was popularized when Louis XIV installed a “green carpet” at Versailles.
Mayor Tim Rogers suggested that rather than addressing the problems of leaf blowers locally, trustees might ask the governor to consider regulating them at the state level as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It’s not clear how likely — or quickly — an appeal to state leaders would have any impact.
Switching to electric blowers could reduce the noise and hydrocarbon pollution, but it would not eliminate all problems. According to an article published on the Sierra Club website in 2017, “As leaf blowers generate wind speeds of around 180 miles per hour, they propel into the air potentially hazardous substances such as dirt, mold, pollen, animal feces and pesticides. Exposure to these dust clouds, which take hours to settle, damages people’s respiratory systems and may cause irritation, allergies and disease.” While a 2011 Consumer Reports comparison found that it takes twice as long to rake, it also burns twice the calories and comes with none of the noise or emissions problems. For those who hire others to do the work, it may be possible to negotiate a lower rate for a neighborhood kid with a rake than to secure the services of a landscaping crew that has to pay for all that gasoline. Another alternative, according to a writer for the National Wildlife Federation, is to leave the leaves where they fall, as they support wildlife that’s imperiled by human existence, while improving soil health as nature intended.
Trustees agreed to get a report on this issue directly from EPB members.
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