At a workshop on Tuesday the South Portland City Council will discuss a proposed ordinance that would eventually prohibit the use of certain gas-fueled lawn equipment powered by two-stroke engines, a move city officials say will help reduce carbon emissions and air pollution.
[RELATED: South Portland Approves Spending Nearly $15,000 to Lease Three New Electric Vehicles…]
The ordinance, initially proposed for a workshop by the city’s Sustainability Department in March 2023, would place a citywide ban on the use of gas-powered two-stroke leaf blowers starting one year from its passage.
A prohibition on a wide array of other two-stroke engine lawn equipment, including string trimmers, edgers, hedge trimmers and lawn mowers would come into effect two years from the passage of the ordinance.
As proposed by the Sustainability Office, it would be the duty of the South Portland Code Enforcement Officer to enforce the ordinance — first with a letter of warning, and then with civil penalties that would increase with subsequent violations.
Under the proposed ordinance, a second violation would result in a fine of $200, a third by a fine of $500, and any subsequent violation by a fine of $1,000.
In a memo to the South Portland City Manager, Mayor and City Councilors, the Sustainability Office wrote that the ordinance would help meet the city’s commitment to reduce citywide greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
[RELATED: Global Warming Will Send Thousands of Migrants to Maine, Claims Portland’s Sustainability Director…]
“In addition to reducing carbon emissions, phasing out the use of two-stroke gas-powered landcare equipment will aid in achieving the One Climate Future goals of enhancing ecosystem resilience and improving soil health by reducing the quantity of harmful pollutants that impact the air, soil, and water,” wrote city staff in the memo.
“Gas-powered landcare equipment is detrimental to the community and the environment,” staff wrote. “This type of equipment generates loud noises which are disruptive to residents and can result in serious health concerns for operators, such as hearing loss, reduced cognitive performance, heart disease, and hypertension.”
While the ordinance would apply citywide, staff is recommending that commercial landscaping companies and municipal operations initially be exempted from the prohibition, as many of those entities typically use more efficient four-stroke engine equipment.
“The Sustainability Department has heard from both municipal and commercial operations that they are beginning to transition handheld landcare equipment to electric, but neither has the capacity to transition all of this equipment due to limited access to a power supply to charge the batteries while out in the field,” the Sustainability Office staff wrote.
“While the technology for electric commercial landcare equipment is improving, the battery life and cost are prohibitive at this point in time,” they added.
South Portland Sustainability Director Julie Rosenbach will present the proposed ordinance to the City Council at the Tuesday workshop, during which the Council will discuss if they support the pashing out of the two-stroke engine products, and whether they agree with the ordinance as proposed by city staff.
Start with the leaf blowers
Now would be a good time for the landscapers to stop using the 2cyvle gas tools, lets see what happens. I guess the thing to do is have a gas powered generator in the truck to keep all the batteries charged might be a solution too.
Another progressive solution looking for a problem.
CFL a great saver of…recycle plants, plastic bags great saver of Walmart cost, California yard trimmer ban great savior of upper crust
They can pound sand.
Soon South Portland will drive middle class taxpayers out of the city.
It seems they only want wealthy liberals who buy into the climate hoax and poor people on welfare whom they think will only vote Dirty Democrat.
S.P. City Council needs to vote us out of the useless agreement with Ptld and close down the Sustainability Dept that was only supposed to be one part time job for a grant writer.
Oh! But we can’t find any place to cut the budget!
This on top of buying more new expensive hybrid police cruisers.
They all say one thing and do another.
Democrats amaze me everyday with their stupidity
All Fall long we’ve had the left telling us the republicans are extremists and are poised to take our “rights” away. Hmmmm. Let’s see if there is a single democrat bitching about this law taking the rights away from the citizenry of South Portland.
The council should use their time more wisely, if this the most pressing issue they have they’re not really needed or their judgement is impaired. Ask the the people of NC if chainsaw are needed
We are watching Maine vote itself into California . Anyone who thinks that banning leaf blowers in South Portland will save the climate, is an idiot .
Republicans need to win control in Portland and Augusta . We need to stop this nonsense .
How do these hairy armpit unshaven women think electric/rechargeable tools get “power”. Oal plants ladies. The US started going down this slippery slope after WWII when women decided they wanted to be men and be : cops, construction workers, plumbers etc. That was the beginning of “social justice”, and the left urve into the welfare state.
you people in South Portland are just on a path of ruining your city. Are you that stupid? Your schools cant educate your kids, the roads are abortions and you have ILLEGAL ALIENS taking your housing from Mainers. Focus on important issues.
“She [Rosenbach] received her bachelor’s degree in Russian History from the University of New Hampshire and a master’s degree in International Environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Julie and her wife (why am I not surprised?) have four kids, two dogs, a cat, and chickens—all of which help inform her work.”
Why is it Lefties all seem to have woke commonalities?
Git ride of the drugs first.
We’ll see how they handle a bunch of downed trees from a storm or for clearing a lot when all they will be able to use are axes and bucksaws. What a bunch of MORONS!!
You guys are missing the whole point. Wait and see how soon a new private, not for profit enforcement company, tax payer funded with janet or one of her relatives as ceo. Makes sense when you think about it, she was probably well schooled in 2 stroke by her late husband.
Jim LaBrecque, WVOM, Wed mornings. “If Maine eliminated ALL it’s carbon emitting engines and went ALL electric everything, it would change the carbon problem by about .001%.
Maine is not the carbon problem. China, India, Indonesia, … and the wind blows from them to us. Maine cannot cure the world and making our lives more “electric” will not make a difference.”
Oh, and just how is electricity made…?
Sad to contemplate the loss of the Fall Puertorican serenade, not.
Lots of companies make all these lawn tools in 4 stroke making just as much noise. Curious on how the 2 stroke brown shirts will know the difference?
In small towns across Maine climate change committees have been formed. Mills throws away our tax dollars funding and encouraging these cultish zealots.
You can be assured that this insanity will soon be put forth in your little community.
There is only one way to stop this mind rot and that’s to vote these Mills minions our of office. If you don’t Vote then shame on you….
Welcome to USSR.
Liberal stupidity has no boundaries!
It is NOT about climate; it is about CONTROL!
I guess will end up with NoMowMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctober
“Disruptive to residents” hmm.. ok so our state is falling apart and people are stepping over dirty drug needles and these puppets go with gas powered yard tools as a priority….100% bullshit… oh and to all the assclowns who keep saying ” you voted em’ in, you get what you vote for, etc. etc. ” no, in fact 1)most people who are looking at maine wire did not vote for those idiots 2) moving is not a realistic option for many people (but maybe your a rich dipshit that thinks everyone is made of money like you) and 3) hilarious you think you live in a state which is not effected by liberal policies and voters, it’s everywhere, you ain’t safe and running away only makes the problem worse not to mention it’s impossible to run from. Shut your pieholes.
Typically these local prohibitions start with leaf blowers and eventually expand to all landscape equipment powered by an ICE. One county in Maryland not only bans leaf blowers but also forbids owners from selling the outlawed equipment they can no longer use. Maybe neighborhood children might rake leaves for parents and neighbors? Ha!
I recently voted absentee ballot in Bangor. Trying to research local candidates for city council or the school board was not easy. None have their party affiliation provided.Some information was on the BDN which is behind a paywall and not accessible. It is the local elections that allow oddball extremists the foothold to wreak havoc which then eventually metastasizes to state laws.
At least when the BDN was available it was always a safe bet to use the candidates it endorsed in a contrarian manner (candidates that should be defeated).
A couple other points…
These ordinances depend on neighbors turning in other neighbors which fosters division, isolation, feuds, and counter snitching.
No battery powered outdoor equipment exists today that can run continuously all day for landscapers.
Lithium Ion batteries on chargers start fires. A recent garage/home fire in Camden sent up a huge black plume of smoke and generated tons of half burnt debris that was trucked to a landfill. All the lost building materials and equipment have to be replaced. A thousand-fold loss for the environment over ICE powered equipment.
First of all, how are people supposed to get anything done? If you hire a landscaping company to remove your leaves, and they have to use rakes and bags, the bill for that leaf cleanup is going to be upwards of $1,500. But if people can handle the noise for 15 minutes. But if someone can come and do your leaf cleanups and it will cost you about $250. Furthermore, if all these Demi cats are so worried about carbon emissions, we should put them all at a camp and make them turn wheels to create electricity.
“Interactive map of lawn mower and leaf blower policies” shows that this is a California elitist policy, which includes the ban on all gas powered equipment being sold beginning 2024. Look at SoPo’s “One Climate Future” if you don’t it’s coming here.
https://pirg.org/california/resources/interactive-map-of-lawn-mower-and-leaf-blower-policies/
@ Cyrus, you will never get enough help to rake a lawn or use a reel lawnmower. And no plastic bags either.