Lower Marion is first in PA to ban gas-powered leaf blowersand
Lower Marion Township in Montgomery County will be the first municipality in Pennsylvania to totally ban gas-powered leaf blowers, starting in 2029. The township ordinance, approved by a 10-4 vote, will begin next year with a phased ban, outlawing the use of the equipment at certain times of the year.
Starting in 2026, leaf blowers will be banned from Jan. 1 to April1 (winter) and from June 1 to Oct. 1 (summer), but they will be allowed during peak leaf cleanup seasons.
On Jan. 1 2028, gas-powered leaf blowers will only be permitted only from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Then the full d ban will take effect Jan. 1, 2029.
Only a few other municipalities around the country have banned gas-powered leaf blowers, including Washington, D.C., Montgomery County, Maryland, Burlington, Vermont and Montclair, New Jersey.
Swarthmore tried for a similar ban last year but it failed to pass. Media Borough did approve an ordinance prohibiting their use before 9 a.m. while children are walking to school.
Environmentalists contend that the engines of gas-powered leaf blowers are a major source of both noise and air pollution, disproportionately affecting children and workers. The noise from the leaf blowers can reach 90 decibels, according to one estimate.
The two-stroke engines burn both gasoline and oil and are extremely inefficient, according to the Institute for Exposomic Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Thirty percent of the gas and oil that they use is unburned and released directly to the atmosphere. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) estimates that operation of a gas leaf blower for one hour releases emissions equivalent to driving a car for 15 hours or 1100 miles.
Air pollutants released by gas leaf blowers include carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, benzene, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. In addition to impacting respiratory health and increasing asthma risk and severity, these pollutants are associated with numerous health outcomes including autism, cancer, heart disease, and dementia, the Institute for Exposomic Research says.
Opponents of the bans argue that having to replace gas-powered equipment with electric leaf blowers would be prohibitively expensive for both landscaping businesses and homeowners, and that the technology for eqivalent electric gas blowers is not quite fully developed yet.
Jodine Mayberry for the Clearinghouse
Photo courtesy of David Director for the Media Environmental Advisory Committee
