Seattle City Council approves ban on gas-powered leaf blowers

SEATTLE — The Seattle City Council has passed a resolution that would phase out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in Seattle within the next five years.

The law would require the city government to transition from gas-powered to electric-powered leaf blowers by January 2025.

Seattle businesses and residents would need to make the transition by January 2027.

“Nearly everyone hates obnoxious, loud, gas-belching leaf blowers, so why do we allow them to continue damaging eardrums, spraying debris into faces and polluting our city?” said Councilmember Alex Pedersen, who sponsored the legislation. “Other cities are banning or phasing out leaf blowers and it’s time to blow them out of Seattle, too.”

The resolution will also explore whether the city should offer incentives, such as a buyback program or rebates on replacement purchases, to landscaping businesses and low-income residents in Seattle.

The council first began considering strategies to reduce or eliminate the noise and emissions created by the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in 2014.

Other U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C. and Burlington, Vermont, as well as the state of California, have already taken steps toward implementing their own leaf blower bans.

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