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Date: 9/21/2022
Subject: Action Alert: Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers - Stay the Course
From: Committee of the Islands



Action Alert: 

Stay the Course on Gas-Powered Leaf Blower Ban

On August 24, 2021, the Sanibel City Council unanimously passed an ordinance prohibiting the use of gas-powered leaf blowers for any purpose after December 31, 2022 (except during a declared state of emergency related to a weather event).

Landscape maintenance companies were given over a year to replace the gas-powered devices.  Many have already complied.

Yet a local landscape contractor brought several of her employees with her to the September 12 City Council meeting to ask the Council, during the public comment period, to reverse the ban or postpone its implementation. 

Sanibel residents overwhelmingly support this ban.  But to keep the ban in place, and to begin enforcing it in January, these residents may wish to write to the City Council to ask the City to proceed with  enforcing the ban.

The issue will be placed on a City Council agenda for discussion in October or November.

Key points to make when writing to Council about this issue:

  • Gas-powered leaf blowers are highly polluting (in addition to being excessively noisy).Their emissions include high levels of benzene, butadiene, formaldehyde and fine particulates – all of which pose health risks.
  • Small gas engines, such as those used in many leaf blowers, contribute ozone-damaging pollutants that are projected to exceed those same emissions from vehicles by sometime in this decade.
  • Many other communities in Florida and across the nation have successfully banned the use of gas-powered leaf blowers.We, the citizens of Sanibel, take pride in protecting the environment, and it is time for this city to address this pollution problem.

Send your message to sancouncil@mysanibel.com, and please send a copy to us at coti@coti.org .

Thank you!

Barbara Joy Cooley
Chairperson of the COTI Environment Committee

 

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Additional Background Information from Our Commentary in 2021: