As war rages in the Middle East, Ukraine, and elsewhere, some U.S. politicians struggle to devastate the American landscape. One of their targets is American landscaping equipment.
In Washington state, lawmakers hope to put an end to gas-powered landscaping. If they succeed, the ordinary activities of humble homeowners and businessmen — humble but determined to keep using Yardmax lawn mowers and Echo leaf blowers — would be criminalized.
Regulations instead of bombs will be the way. If you don’t follow the regulations, then you’ll be “bombed” with fines. Or jail time.
State Representative Amy Walen is pushing legislation, HB 1868, that would “prohibit engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new outdoor power equipment,” a prohibition to take effect as early as January 1, 2026.
Persons using gas-powered equipment bought before the ban takes effect would presumably not be subject to fines or jail time. They might still be subject to investigation, though, if one of their grandfathered gas-powered tools looks too shiny.
And they might be at risk if they ignore the prohibition and buy post-January-2026-produced gas-powered mowers from out of state.
Exactly how the legislation would play out is hard to predict. But it does not look good for the average guy who just wants to keep his plot in shape.
Government agencies dealing with “natural or human-caused emergency events” would be exempt, at least initially. They wouldn’t have to worry about spending a year in jail for efficiently cutting the lawn.
Just everybody else.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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3 replies on “The Crime of Mowing the Lawn”
A friend who purchased an electric lawn mower (after a back injury compelled him to give-up use of an unmotorized device) was grossly disappointed by it.
If this idiotic deadline is imposed, then purchases of petroleum-powered devices will surge as the deadline approaches, and many old devices will become somewhat like the Ship of Theseus. I suppose that, at some point, the left will act to limit repairs. Perhaps the law will declare when the Lawn Mower of Theseus has become a different lawn mower.
If passed, the law doesn’t go in to effect until after January 1, 2026 or later.
My neighbor has a corded electric and is happy with it. I had an all-electric SUV that got 80 mpg. It was a fun vehicle to drive.
80 miles per gallon, eh? Amazing to have the fuel-efficiency of an electric vehicle. It seems that you had a hybrid.
The bill in Washington would outlaw hybrid landscaping equipment, much as legislation in some state jurisdictions has outlawed hybrid personal transportation after various deadlines.
And, as I told you previously, an electric vehicle begins with a large carbon footprint. It takes about eight years of use for a petroleum-powered vehicle to catch-up to the footprint of a pure EV; somewhat less in the case of a hybrid. I notice that you write of your SUV in the past tense.