Push mowers and rakes due for a comeback?
“They’re always looking to kind of ban things,” Steven Greenhut says of the Air Resources Board. “They’re looking to phase these things out and aren’t thinking about the ramifications on average people.”
Greenhut, a California resident serving as western region director for the R Street Institute, argues that the Board’s decision, if enacted, will have an impact on small landscape and gardening businesses.
“The electric versions [of these types of lawn equipment] are not up to snuff [in comparison] … and then people who have made a large investment in power equipment are going to have to buy new power equipment,” says Greenhut.
“I have a large lot, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to cut six acres with an electric lawnmower,” he adds.
It’s unclear when the ban would go into effect, he adds. “There’s talk of some rules next year reducing the allowable emissions from these lawn products,” Greenhut tells OneNewsNow.
According to CBS 13 in Sacramento, at least 60 cities in California have some kind of ban on gas-powered garden tools – and that includes cities in the Bay Area.
“They claim it’s for pollution reasons, but a lot of that is nuisance reasons,” says Greenhut. “A lot of neighbors, especially in wealthy communities, can’t stand the noise of those leaf blowers going through the day.”
