Well, the inmates are officially in control of the asylum in the state of California. The Golden State has now banned the sale of new gas-powered lawn mowers, chain saws, leaf blowers, and other small-motor lawn tools. This was a bill signed by that pretty-boy liberal California Governor Gavin Newsom (D).
This is a new law that requires small-motor landscaping equipment to have zero emissions, meaning that they will have to either be battery-powered or plug-in by no later than 2024 or as soon as the California Air Resources Board. Moreover, the gas-powered gas generators are required to be zero emissions by at least 2028.
This ban will cover all engines that are able to produce 25 gross horsepower or less. This would include lawnmowers, weed trimmers, golf carts, chain saws, specialty vehicles, generators, and even pumps. Oh, brother. This new law does not apply to on-road vehicles, off-road motor vehicles, snowmobiles, model airplanes, boats, or cars.
The author of the bill is one Assemblyman named Marc Berman (D) and he praised the governor for signing this law because he said that the lawn care is “dangerous.” (if you are rolling your eyes right now, trust me, you aren’t the only one)
“Thank you @GavinNewsom for signing my bill to ban the sale of gas-powered leaf blowers & other small engine equipment beginning in 2024! This equipment is dangerous to the workers who use it, disruptive to communities, & terribly damaging to our climate,” Berman tweeted.
According to Berman, California is planning on spending as much as $30 million to assist professional landscapers and gardeners that can make the transition from gas-powered to electric. However, an industry expert said that this isn’t enough and that $30 million is not going to cover the costs, especially when you consider that 50,000 California businesses will be affected.
Andrew Bray is the vice-president of government relations for the National Association of Landscape Professionals said that these zero-emission commercial-grade landscapers are terribly expensive and not as efficient. A gas-powered riding lawn mower will cost around $7,000 to $11,000, but the zero-emission equipment will cost at least twice that amount.
Of course, another major expense would be the batteries. Bray noted that even a three-person landscaping crew would need to carry at least 30 to 40 fully charged batteries and that’s just to charge their equipment for only a full day’s work!
“These companies are going to have to completely retrofit their entire workshops to be able to handle this massive change in voltage so they’re going to be charged every day,” Bray said.
This ban on small-motor equipment follows an executive order that Governor Newsom signed last September that basically completely bans the sale of passenger cars that run on internal combustion by 2035. Governor Newsom’s executive order also sent directions to the California State Air Resources Board to try to draft regulations that would outlaw the sale of gasoline-powered engines in the state. Moreover, the agency was prepared to enact these new rules on the small-motor equipment even before the governor had signed the ban into law!
