Start Spreadin' the News: Cleaner Air for New York

Posted: 01-Nov-2002; Updated: 26-May-2005

In a major victory for the environment, NY Governor George Pataki announced a plan to protect New Yorkers from highly-polluting machinery at the construction site of the World Trade Center, now one of the nation's largest building projects. Environmental Defense helped craft the plan through months of work by our Living Cities team in cooperation with other environmental groups and state and city officials.

Watch our video, Cleaning the Air at Ground Zero (RealPlayer required)

Non-road vehicles such as construction equipment emit more fine particles than all the nation's cars, trucks and power plants combined. These pollutants are linked to asthma, cancer and other serious health problems. "These measures will help protect the health of thousands of New Yorkers, including more than 4,000 children who play or attend school within blocks of the site," says our New York regional director Andy Darrell.

Environmental Defense issued a briefing paper in January outlining cost-effective steps to improve long-term air quality in lower Manhattan. The governor's plan includes our recommendations to use ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel and the latest retrofit technologies to cut emissions. We will use this landmark agreement as a model for cleaning up other large and dirty construction projects ranging from airport expansions to sports arenas. Target cities include Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

"Every major city in the country suffers from these diesel 'super-polluters,' " says our staff attorney Janea Scott. "These low cost measures can be used everywhere." Such measures will build momentum for a federal plan mandating low polluting fuel and better technologies for large off-road diesels. We are redoubling our efforts with EPA to press for rigorous national emission standards for these engines.

EPA recently issued a similar national rule for on-road diesel engines, lowering pollution from trucks and buses beginning in 2007. We pressed for adoption of the rule and then helped defend it in court.

Find Out More:

  Read our briefing paper, Rebuilding Lower Manhattan: A Clean Air Initiative
  For information on clean air issues and how they affect public health visit our Air Quality page