5. Fact: Gas-powered leaf blowers emit large quantities of hazardous air pollutants for workers and neighbors.
a. Gas-powered blowers emit high levels of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. By the year 2020, air emissions from lawn care equipment in California are expected to exceed the air emissions of all the cars in California. [Elkins2, p.3]
6. Fact: DC’s Current regulation of leaf blowers’ decibel levels is so difficult to enforce that a more effective solution is demanded.
a. Enforcement of the current regulation in DC is either non-existent or ineffective resulting in demands that the DC Council to do something about noisy leaf blowers, from:
i. 14 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (more than 1/3rd of the ANCs in the city),
ii. over 2300 people who signed a Change.org petition; and
iii. virtually all of the public witnesses at the Council’s July 2nd hearing. [Transcript (Orlins), p. 26; Elkins .1; Transcript(Cauman, Spatafora) p. 29-30]
b. Current enforcement requires the presence of an inspector with a noise meter at the time of the violation, and that is not practical, but the new legislation will be much easier to enforce. [Transcript (Johnson), p. 12; Fallows2, p. 4; Elkins 2, p. 6; Banks2, p.6]