By Mary O’KEEFE

The Glendale City Council voted to ban the use of gas-powered leaf blowers at its meeting of July 25; the Aug. 1 meeting was canceled so councilmembers could visit the various National Night Out events. This ban will be in place but the punitive citations will be rolled out slowly providing an educational process.

Gas-powered leaf blowers generate large volumes of carbon dioxide and non-methane hydrocarbons, along with nitrous oxide. All contribute to climate change and harm public health.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the impact of one pound of nitrous oxide on warming the atmosphere is almost 300 times that of an equivalent pound of carbon dioxide.

The ordinance will include citations whose payment will be the responsibility of the property owner, not the gardening maintenance worker and/or landscapers.

The council members voiced concerns about the ordinance citations and getting the word out of the new ruling to the public. There was a discussion as to how long to provide education outreach.

Mayor Dan Broman asked for Dan Mabe of American Green Zone Alliance to come to the podium to share his expertise on this subject.

“I come from the gas industry,” Mabe said. He added that he had converted years ago to electric/battery-operated leaf blowers.

“We understand the workload production rates of gas [blowers],” he said.

A speaker prior to Mabe spoke against the move to ban gas blowers stating that the battery-operated equipment uses a high number of batteries.

“We have specific case studies,” Mabe said. Those studies, according to Mabe, included following numerous landscapers and comparing workers who use gas to those who use electric/battery blowers. The study found that a day of work can be done with just two or three batteries.

Mabe and his company are in talks with the City to provide its outreach educational program. He added that the initial costs of an electric/battery operated leaf blower is significant but felt the benefits outweighed gas operated blowers. There are entities that can help with the purchase of the new equipment through programs like those offered by California Core, South Coast Air Quality Management District and California Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher.

The ordinance will be in effect on Sept. 8 and the Council voted to conduct a year of outreach and education before issuing citations. If at the end of a year it still appears the outreach was not as successful as anticipated, the Council can then extend that program.