ATLANTA — Gas-powered leaf blowers are loud, polluting and can kill pollinators like bees. Channel 2 Action News first told you about the push to ban them here in Georgia in November. Now Georgia lawmakers introduced a bill to stop gas-powered leaf blower bans.
The noise: “It’s so loud you can hear it from blocks away,” said Buckhead resident Peter Bahouth.
The pollution: “I realized how dirty they were,” said Bahouth.
And the destruction of wildlife: “We’re losing things like the Luna moths,” said Bahouth.
Those are the main reasons some Georgians want to ban gas-powered leaf blowers.
“Leaves aren’t litter, and we shouldn’t treat them as if they’re criminals that have to be hunted down and removed as soon as they hit the ground,” said Bahouth.
He is retired and likes to enjoy nature from a treehouse he built in his yard. But noise from leaf blowers is constantly interrupting his peace and quiet.
“Now it’s practically every day for up to six hours a day,” said Bahouth.
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Channel 2 first reported about efforts to ban gas leaf blowers in November 2021. Atlanta, Decatur, and Athens-Clarke county all talked about restricting them, but ultimately did not.
House Bill 1301 would prevent any city or county from banning or putting restrictions on gas leaf blowers as other cities across the country as California did.
“We feel it’s important to nip that in the bud,” said Mary Kay Woodruff, the Executive Director of the Georgia Urban Agriculture Council, a trade group for the landscaping and horticulture industry.
“It would make it very difficult if each individual jurisdiction had different ordinances in place for landscape companies, construction companies, other users of this equipment,” said Woodruff.
Gas leaf blowers use a two-stroke engine that burns only 60% of its fuel. The rest goes into the air we breathe.
“So, it’s very harmful to the air that the workers are breathing, that the kids at home or anybody else at home is breathing, people with asthma,” said Bahouth.
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The alternative is electric leaf blowers. They are not as noisy. But right now the batteries only last about two hours.
“But the technology is not there to be able to use them on a larger scale,” said Woodruff.
They also cost more – a lot more.
“A commercial level blower, just the blower alone and not the batteries is $600 to $700. You can get a good gas-powered blower for $350 to $400,” said Woodruff.
Pam Dooley owns Plants Creative Landscapes and put solar panels on one of her trucks so crews can recharge batteries in between jobs. She’s a fan of electric blowers with a caveat.
“I’m in full support. But I say not yet. I say give us time. Give us time for technology to continue advancing,” said Dooley.
Mary Kay Woodruff thinks landscapers need five to 10 years to fully transition to electric leaf blowers.
House Bill 1301 did not make it out of committee before Crossover Day, but supporters said they are exploring other options.
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