Dear Menlo Park City Council, I recently had an opportunity to read an opinion column in The Almanac written by Lisa Williams and Leah Elkins. They urge that it is past time for Menlo Park to go electric on leaf blowers and ban gas leaf blowers for use on Menlo Park. They quite accurately state that at a time when cities on the Peninsula are trying to proactively fight climate change, gas powered leaf blowers are a very suitable target for banning. As they state, these machines ‘spew polluting fumes into the atmosphere.’ What I had not known before reading the column was that gas-powered leaf blowers use an inefficient polluting two-stroke engine. Oil is mixed in with the gasoline it uses for fuel. They emit one third of its fuel as an unburned aerosol directly into the environment. And Ms. Williams and Ms. Elkins further point out that not only do the greenhouse gas emission contribute to our climate crisis, but ‘the carbon monoxide compromises our brains, particulate matter harms our lungs and our hearts, nitrous oxide hurts our throats and hydrocarbons irritate our throats, noses and eyes.’ Further, VOC’s (hydrocarbon) emissions are carcinogenic, as they point out. They also provide the fairly mind blowing statistic that running a leaf blower for one hour is the equivalent of driving 1,100 miles in a 2017 Toyota according to the California Air Resources Board. These facts are derived from tinyurl.com/leaf blowers-31, which sets forth AGZA American Green Zone Data, sourced from the EPA, OSHA, American Lung Association, WHO, NIOSH, ANSI and Quiet Communities.com. It must also be said that is not good for the hearing of those using leaf blowers to be subject to loud decibels created by operating leaf blowers. The electric leaf blowers are quieter. This would be a boon to all within earshot. As you may be able to tell, I agree with the columnists that Menlo Park should follow the lead of other local cities in banning gas blowers. Gas blowers were banned in Los Altos in 1991, in Palo Alto in 2000 and in Los Gatos in 2014. In 2019, Portola Valley passed a ban with a two year phase-in period and Atherton’s City Council has discussed a ban on two occasions. Thank you for your service to Menlo Park, for your consideration of this proposal and anticipated prompt action given the current climate crisis. Best regards, Janet Walworth Sent from my iPhone Received on Thu Aug 08 2019 - 17:56:17 PDT
