Antonio Espinoza, a supervisor with the Gras Lawn landscaping company, uses a gasoline-powered leaf blower to clean up around a housing development in Brick, N.J. on June 18, 2024.
Though several local communities have already enacted full or partial bans on gas-powered leaf blowers, New Jersey is considering banning them statewide. A state Senate committee on Thursday advanced a bill that would ban such blowers most of the year, but would allow ones using four-stroke combustion engines to be used during peak cleanup periods in spring and fall.
Gas-powered blowers are being targeted by governments across the country. A ban in California starts next month, and similar measures have passed in Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon; Montgomery County, Maryland; Burlington, Vermont; and Evanston, Illinois, among other places. “My company, I have $150,000 to $200,000 worth of gas-powered blowers," said Goldstein, head of the New Jersey landscapers' group. “What am I supposed to do, throw them in the garbage?”