Get off my lawn — equipment.
A battle over gas-powered mowers, leaf blowers and other tools has emerged as the latest front in the culture wars, as state and local governments look to ban or limit their use.
Democrat-dominated states including California, Colorado and Vermont have passed restrictions in recent years, while Republican-led states such as Georgia and Texas have passed measures to block localities from implementing new restrictions.
Other blue states that have considered measures to restrict gas-powered lawn equipment include Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Washington.
The New Jersey bill, which could still be approved this year, would limit most gas leaf blower use to March through May and October through December. It would also give credits of up to 50% to people who buy electric blowers and let towns retain the money they get from enforcing violations.
“Ultimately we shouldn’t be selling or using this highly polluting, harmfully noisy equipment,” said Kirsten Schatz with PIRG in Colorado. “So we want to help communities and states across the country get there in the way that works best for them, but as quickly as possible, because it’s important for our health and our quality of life.”
In Washington, Rep. Amy Walen (D) said she plans to introduce a bill next year focused on leaf blowers. It’s a scaled-down version of a bill she introduced this year that was modeled after California’s law. Walen’s original bill would have banned new sales of gas-powered lawn equipment beginning in 2027.
California, so far, is the only state to impose a ban on the sale of new gas-powered lawn equipment. The law was enacted in 2021 and went into effect this year.
Walen said in an email that her new bill, which would provide a sales tax exemption on electric leaf blowers, should “help alleviate concerns we heard from utilities, farmers and forestry.” Her initial measure drew opposition at a January hearing from the Washington Farm Bureau and landscaping businesses, who said gas-powered equipment is currently superior to battery-powered equipment.
“There’s a ton of research that shows that the battery technology is just still not there yet, specifically for commercial use,” Niwar Nasim, owner of Nasim Landscape based in Puyallup, Wash., told the panel.
Noise is also a concern, with gas-powered leaf blowers derisively referred to as the devil’s hairdryer because of their noise and pollution.
Georgia and Texas both passed their lawn equipment laws last year. Georgia’s prohibits local governments from regulating gas-powered leaf blowers differently than other types of leaf blowers, such as those that are battery-powered. Texas’s prohibits limiting or banning the use, sale, or lease of an engine based on its fuel source.
“This bill is about choice and freedom,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) said upon signing the Landscape Equipment and Agricultural Fairness, or LEAF Act, last year.
But such preemption laws have been met with resistance, as local governments have sought workarounds such as offering financial incentives.
Dallas, for example, changed course this year from a proposed ban to a plan to offer residents up to $200 seeking to change to zero-emission lawn equipment. Austin is considering a recycling program to allow residents to trade in their gas-powered equipment for their electric equivalent.
“In the absence of being able to take restrictive action, communities still want to address this harmful pollution and noise from gas lawn equipment, so they’re finding other ways to help accelerate this shift towards cleaner, quieter lawn equipment,” Schatz said.
Small two-stroke engines, which are used in most gas-powered small tools, have an outsized impact on the nation’s air pollution.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2020 National Emissions Inventory, gas-powered lawn equipment released more than 68,000 tons of smog-forming nitrous oxides, equivalent to the pollution from 30 million cars. Lawn equipment also emitted 30 million tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide, more than the total emissions from Los Angeles.