As a potential ban on gas-powered lawn equipment is being developed by the City of Dallas, similar prohibitions have already been enacted across North America.
Bans on gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers have been passed in California; Washington, D.C.; Burlington, Vermont; and Vancouver, British Columbia.
The justifications behind the restrictions include efforts to reduce carbon emissions for the environment and noise pollution for the residents.
“You used to hear them all day, everywhere you went,” said Susan Orlins, per USA Today. “And now you don’t.”
Orlins is a founding member of Quiet Clean D.C., a volunteer group that has led efforts since 2015 to restrict gas-powered lawn equipment and helped the District of Columbia pass one of the strictest prohibitions in the country. The ban went into effect on January 1, 2022.
Anyone within Washington, D.C., who uses a gas-powered leaf blower can be fined up to $500 unless they are using the equipment on federal property.
Any person who sees or hears a gas-powered leaf blower is also able to file a complaint with the City.
Meanwhile, California has become the first to enact such a ban at the state level.
On July 1, 2022, a bill went into effect that prohibits the use of “small off-road engines,” which include gas-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and snowblowers.
By 2024, all lawn maintenance equipment throughout California must produce no evaporative emissions, per the act.
In April, officials in Denver, Colorado, began drafting a similar policy for the Denver metro area beginning in 2025, according to The Colorado Sun.
Meanwhile, City of Dallas staff are working on an ordinance with similar goals.
However, this ordinance could be thwarted by state legislation that would block municipalities from banning gas-powered lawn equipment, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The City is developing a “5-year Landscape Equipment Transition Plan” that was scheduled to be rolled out this spring. However, the month of May has just begun, and this plan has yet to be enacted.
As previously covered by The Dallas Express, the plan would phase out the use of gas-powered tools for City departments, contractors, businesses, and residents by 2027 or 2030 and mandate the use of non-gasoline equipment such as electric tools.
Reasons for this ban cited by Dallas City Council members mirror the justifications expressed by other government officials across the nation.
Officials say the restrictions are needed to reduce carbon emissions and noise pollution — defined as “any unwanted or disturbing sound” that harms people’s health and well-being.
However, some in the lawn care and landscaping industries have vocalized their opposition to this City ordinance.
Ryan Skrobarczyk serves as director of legislative and regulatory affairs for the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association (TNLA), which represents more than 1,400 industry members, including 60 that are Dallas-based.
“Our member companies have shared concerns with an abrupt transition forcing the use of inadequate technology and imposing serious costs as well as lost investments in our industry,” Skrobarczyk said last year when the proposed ordinance first came to light.
“TNLA is interested in preserving the freedom for our members to invest in the proper landscape equipment as they see fit,” Skrobarczyk explained. “Instead of a ban, the city could limit its proposal to a reasonable rebate fund that would make battery-powered equipment more cost competitive and allow companies to purchase commercial-grade equipment as it [becomes] technologically feasible.”
Dallas Assistant City Manager Liz Cedillo-Pereira delivered a memorandum to the City Council Environment and Sustainability Committee on May 1 on the progress of the ordinance.
Carlos Evans, director of the Environment and Sustainability Department, told the committee on Monday that state legislation could “impact the future of the landscaping equipment transition plan.”
More details on the legislation and its potential impact on the City of Dallas can be read here.