Cover

A new leaf

Japanese gardeners invented the earliest leaf blowers–which took the form of hand-pumping implements that cleared leaves and twigs from garden plots–in the 19th century, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that Japanese engineers modernized the blower by attaching a hose and a motor. The devices, which subsequently integrated the technology of powerful chemical mist blowers, were brought to the US shortly thereafter.

Early fall

Several California cities, including Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Laguna Beach and West Hollywood, almost immediately banned the gas-powered machines. Regardless, by 1997 blower sales passed 1 million per year in the US and were steadily increasing.

Aloha means hello, goodbye and shhhh

Senate Bill 466, which became law as Act 206 on July 7 without Gov. Lingle’s signature, essentially prohibits the use of leaf blowers on or near residential property except within designated time periods. It also authorizes counties to adopt ordinances that are more restrictive, in which case the more restrictive provision would always have precedence.

Oahu ban coming?

City Council Bill 38 proposes to ban gas-powered leaf blowers. The bill was expected to be discussed at this week’s Public Safety committee hearing, but was removed from the agenda for procedural reasons. Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi says she expects the bill to be taken up for discussion at the comittee’s next meeting. If Bill 38 becomes an ordinance in current form, gas-powered leaf blowers would be banned within the City and County of Honolulu.

Air pollution?

Insecticides, herbicides, mold and animal feces are often scattered by leaf blowers and are prone to be inhaled by anyone in the area. In addition, the blowers emit carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, small particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, according to Palmer. According to the American Lung Association, a leaf blower causes as much smog as 17 cars. The dust caused by leaf blowers–which, according to the California Air Resources Board is produced at a rate of 2.6 pounds per hour of use–also contains organic carbon, elemental carbon, lead cadmium, chromium, arsenic, nickel and mercury.

The silence of the leaves

Approximately 400 US cities and towns have now banned or restricted the use of gas-powered leaf blowers. Cities like Santa Barbara, Calif.; White Plains, NY; Evanston, Ill.; Houston, Texas; Cambridge, Mass.; Aspen, Colo.; and Scottsdale, Ariz., to name a few, have banned the gas blowers completely. Boulder, Colo.; Palm Beach, Fla.; Portland, Ore.; and Portsmouth, NH, have blower noise and use ordinances. Westchester County, NY, and the entire state of California also have noise and use ordinances.

Ear damage?

According to research done by Daniel D. Palmer, a retired physician who has provided testimony for leaf-blower legislation in Hawaii, the average noise level of a leaf blower runs from 70 decibels to 75 decibels at 50 feet and 90 decibels to 100 decibels at the operator’s ear. Such levels are significantly higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization, which promotes daytime outdoor noise levels of 55 decibels or less and night-time levels of 45 decibels or less.

Noise pollution

“There are a lot of workers’ comp cases on the mainland, people get ringing in the ear and they lose their hearing,” says Linda Wong, a member of the Diamond Head/Kapahulu/St. Louis Heights Neighborhood Board, who has fronted efforts to ban leaf blowers. “I don’t think the general public is educated in to how much damage there is by noise pollution, in addition to people with allergies, asthma, the people losing hearing, getting ringing in the ears. There’s a big cost in worker’s compensation and lawsuits and liabilities for hearing loss because of urban noise pollution. So it is a bigger deal–people don’t realize it.”

Terrence Fernandez, an executive at Waipahu Lawn Equipment, says that gas-powered blowers are less noisy than other kinds of landscaping equipment, and that workers will find other tools to do the same work. “The ban isn’t going to make landscaping noise go away,” he said.

Spinal tap?

According to Palmer–this guy does not like leaf blowers–the vibrations produced by the leaf blowers are harmful to the human body. “Vibration produced by the leaf blower backpack is transmitted up the spinal column to the skull and temporal bones, which enclose the cochlea [the tube in the inner ear where sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses] responsible for hearing.”

Electric feel

If Bill 38 is passed, the ban would encourage landscapers to use electric leaf blowers. The electric blowers–which come with or without a cord–are not only easier on the ears, but also lower-maintenance. Those in the landscaping industry say that electric blowers aren’t as efficient. Proponents of the ban maintain that the electric substitutes are a reasonable compromise. “The industry says they can’t use [electric-powered leaf blowers] because they don’t make enough power, but there are so many other places…that have had bans on gas-powered leaf blowers and haven’t felt any ill effects,” says Wong.

Full of hot air?

In some tests comparing the efficiency and effectiveness of gas-powered leaf blowers, electric-powered leaf blowers and rakes and brooms, the old-fashioned tools took the cake. A task force convened by the Los Angeles City Council and composed of representatives of just about every stakeholder imaginable, conducted one such test. The task force did three tests: the first required each participant to clean a pebbled cement patio approximately 100 square feet in size with eight chairs placed on the patio; the second consisted of moving paper cups and wadded paper down and up a 50-foot slope; and the third involved moving a bed of pine needles and dirt down a 30-foot ramp. In the first, a woman in her 50s with a rake cleared the area in two minutes and 30 seconds whereas the gas-powered blower finished in two minutes but small nuts and leaf stems remained on the patio. In the second, the woman moved the items just as fast as the gas-powered blower and even faster than the electric-powered one. In the third, the woman finished first and left the cleanest slope. The leaf blowers, on the other hand, sent columns of dirt up to 6 feet in the air.

Costs going up

It is difficult to gather data on whether the ban would have negative economic effects on landscaping businesses, but Fernandez says, “I have had this discussion with many landscapers. They say that what now takes two guys to cover an area, that is going to double. And so that doubles the cost. Either they’re gonna raise rates, or go out of business.”

A lone voice

Lost in all of this is the voice of any real opposition to the ban. With armies of landscapers out there, many of their businesses presumably affected, where is the opposition to Bill 38?

So far, the only testimony the city council has received is from Fernandez. He tells the Weekly that the ban would have unintended consequences without really reducing the noise generated by landscaping work. He also says it would “absolutely” raise costs for everyone, from landscapers to homeowners to condo associations.

Fernandez says the issue is one of training and common courtesy.

“Sometimes, I admit, the workers don’t use the best judgement. I use a leaf blower, but I’m not using it at 6 in the morning or 9 at night. There’s a school here that certifies people to use leaf-blowers. We need more education for the operators and then just being courteous.”

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