Federal Measure Would Block Mower Smog Rule

WASHINGTON – A measure in a Senate spending bill would block new California regulations curbing emissions from lawn mowers, leaf blowers and chain saws.

Senators debated the prohibition Wednesday, Nov. 19, and revised it somewhat, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., while speaking in opposition, decided against trying to strip the language from the measure. Lawmakers did not vote on the underlying bill, which may ultimately be combined with several other spending bills into one “omnibus” measure.

Feinstein and other opponents said the legislation threatens air quality across the country, while small engine makers and their backers contend the measure will save thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

The battle started in California, where state officials are cracking down on pollution from lawn mowers and other equipment with small engines. California regulators say the machines are major producers of smog. The California Air Resources Board adopted new regulations in September that would cut emissions from lawn-care equipment by 35 percent over the next 17 years by requiring lawn and garden equipment makers to begin, in 2007, selling machines with catalysts, improved carburetors and leakproof fuel tanks and fuel lines.

Nationwide, emissions from small engines in 1999 had the same impact as 78 million new cars on the roads, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Wisconsin-based small-engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton Corp. asked Congress to block California's new restrictions. Company officials warn that redesigning their engines to comply with tougher regulations would be so costly they would have to move production to China.

Because the new rules would require engines to come with catalytic converters, the company and its allies caution that high temperatures from pollution-reducing converters might spark fires, and they raise the specter of California’s wildfires to drive home their point.

Missouri GOP Sen. Kit Bond took up the company’s cause, adding an amendment to block California's regulations to a spending bill that funds Environmental Protection Agency operations.

During debate on Wednesday, Bond revised his amendment to require federal regulators to come up with a new national emissions standard for small engines. He also made the bill apply to 50-horsepower engines rather than his original 175-horsepower target, although that still includes most small engines.

Source: Associated Press