Gas versus electric leaf blowers: A way forward

A growing controversy on the Island is the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. There may be a way to resolve the issues –– but first, some background.

Warrant articles limiting and ultimately banning gas leaf blowers have now been proposed in Chilmark, Edgartown, and Oak Bluffs. West Tisbury held an open discussion session on Jan. 23, Tisbury did on Jan. 15, and Aquinnah may soon follow.

So why the focus on gas leaf blowers? The Island is not alone. Some 100 cities and towns across the U.S. have restricted their use or banned them outright. According to the Baltimore Sun, for example, the Baltimore City Council passed a bill in October that prohibits “city entities, contractors, and subcontractors from using gas-powered leaf blowers starting [last] Dec. 15. After that, private use by people and landscaping companies will only be permitted the next two years during the fall –– from Oct. 15 to Dec. 15.”

Everyone knows the horrendous loud roar gas leaf blowers make. The public is also increasingly becoming aware of their contribution to air pollution and climate change.

According to Mark Nevitt, professor of environmental law at Emory University, “The common gas-powered leaf blower has a two-stroke engine. That means it cranks out more air pollution than a high-performance pickup truck.” According to the vehicle analysis site Edmunds, “The hydrocarbon emissions from a half-hour of yard work with the two-stroke leaf blower are about the same as a 3,900-mile drive from Texas to Alaska in a 6,200-pound pickup.”

Dr. Joe Vipond, an emergency room physician, notes, “the things that come out of the exhaust of a leaf blower are a combination of the combustion products, like the carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and that particulate matter 2.5, which is the real bad pollutant that people know about … The PM2.5 in particular has a direct relationship with mortality. The more you’re exposed to [it] on an annual basis, you’re going to have a higher level of mortality.”

As reported in The Times, the proposed Island regulations “involve police-enforced restrictions, with both gas and electric blowers allowed from 8 am to 5 pm on weekdays and 10 am to 5 pm on Saturdays. Leaf blowers would be banned on Sundays and certain holidays, and no more than two blowers would be allowed to be used at the same time on a property. Gas blowers would eventually be phased out under the proposal, no longer allowed starting in spring 2028. Before then, they would be allowed from March 15 to May 31, and Sept. 15 through Dec. 15.” Initial violations may result in a $100 fine, increasing to $300 for additional violations.

Several local landscaping and lawncare businesses object to the regulations. They note the high costs involved in switching from gas-powered to electric-powered leaf blowers. Some have argued that charging batteries takes too long, and may even be dangerous.

But one non-Island landscaper, Sheldon Ridout, the owner of an all-electric landscaping company, differs. He notes that “all those little myths about, ‘Oh, I’d have to have so many batteries, and they only last for 15 minutes, and they’re not powerful,’ are all 10-year-ago problems … Technology changes every day. The excuses that were out there don’t really exist. The only thing they have is a lack of vision.”

Who, besides homeowners, are users of gas leaf blowers on a regular basis during the summer and autumn months into December? According to Richard Heinberg of the Post Carbon Institute, “In most cases, it’s low-income landscape workers, who are exposed to the air pollution and noise from leaf blowers at close range over sustained periods of time. Gas-powered lawn care has been linked to debilitating health issues like cancer, asthma, heart disease, and hearing loss; so, unsurprisingly, it’s the less-well-off who face the brunt of those health insults.” There is an environmental justice issue that prevails over their use.

Is there a compromise possible? Can landscapers and those worried about pollution and climate change work together to formulate a solution? An effort is now underway to urge the six Island towns to adopt restrictions, if not a ban on gas leaf blowers. Another way is for the public itself to work with landscapers to persuade them to begin converting to electric blowers. In this way, perhaps the goal of both interests can be reached through discussion, compromise, and agreement. 

Jack Fruchtman, who lives in Aquinnah, serves on the board of directors of the Vineyard Conservation Society (VCS). The views expressed here are his own, and not necessarily those of VCS.