Gas-powered leaf blowers could be gone with the wind

At the annual Riverdale Nature Preservancy meeting March 26, Raymond Pultanis, Riverdale resident, called for a ban on gas-powered lawn and leaf blowers. His statement drew more than a few sounds of agreement from attendees.

“I just look at the Yonkers policy and they give rebates to homeowners to exchange their recruitment to electric and to commercial landscaping businesses,” Pultanis said. “I don’t know if that’s the exact design of what would happen (in Riverdale), but it seems like it’s a good precedent for what could happen.”

According to U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a leaf-blower ban in Riverdale would have to legislated at the local level. Enter Councilman Eric Dinowitz, who said he would support bringing such legislation.

Dinowitz said gas-powered leaf blowers are a quality-of-life issue, given the noise and air pollution they produce.

“Gas-powered leaf blowers are one of the places we do have the ability to reduce pollutants going into our atmosphere,” Dinowitz said.

Adding he has heard leaf-blower complaints from constituents, Dinowitz said there is currently a bill before the city council proposed by Councilwoman Gale Brewer that would ban the sale of gas-powered leaf blowers as well as set limitations on noise level and hours of use.

Other municipalities throughout the state, such as Southhampton, East Hampton, New Castle, Larchmont, and Croton-on-Hudson, have installed bans on gas-powered leaf blowers. Riverdale neighbor Yonkers has had a ban in place since 2007.

At the state level, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz proposed leaf-blower legislation in 2021 that would ban gas-powered lawn tools from May 1 through Sept. 15.

The bill has not moved forward, Dinowitz said, citing opposition from upstate concerns.

Research conducted by the California Air Resources Board in 2021 determined, for every hour of use, gas-powered leaf blowers produce as much smog-forming pollution as a passenger car driving 1100 miles.

“I would like to see a statewide law,” Assemblyman Dinowitz said.

As far as the effect on landscapers should gas-powered leaf blowers be banned, Eric Dinowitz said he doesn’t wish to prohibit them from doing their work.

“Any legislation should bring all impacted people to the table,” the councilman said. “It wouldn’t restrict landscapers from doing their work, it would just say the equipment you have to use would at some point change.”