City Council To Vote For Clean Air

The New York City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on a set of bills that will help clean up New York City’s air by curbing pollution from city owned vehicles.  Those bills are to be voted out of the Council’s environment committee Tuesday.

“The bills before the City Council represent the most comprehensive commitment New York City has yet made to bring clean car and truck technology to New York City streets,” said Andy Darrell, Living Cities program director at Environmental Defense.  “Existing city fleet rules are over a decade old and are missing out on the cleanest and best technologies the market has to offer.  The City’s commitment would set a precedent for the country and help drive the market for clean vehicles.”

The bills require clean air technology for cars, diesel trucks, school buses, sanitation trucks and sight-seeing buses controlled by city fleets or contracts.  In each case, the bills require the best available clean air technology to reduce fine particulate matter (soot) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), a key precursor to smog.   They also require improvements in fuel efficiency over time, to help cut greenhouse emissions, which lead to global warming.

“Diesel tailpipes are like giant cigarettes — targeted delivery devices for dirty air,” said Darrell.   “Tailpipe pollution produces over 80% of the cancer risk in the ambient air New Yorkers breathe, yet the technology exists to solve the problem.  Cost effective technology exists to cut tailpipe pollution from school buses, trucks and buses up to 90%.  We ask the mayor to build on the success of Local Law 77, enacted in 2003, and sign these bills into law quickly.”