Localities across the DC-Maryland-Virginia (“DMV”) area are considering bans to gas-powered leaf blowers, but none, aside from the District, have gone as far as to ban their use across the state, despite the myriad of environmental concerns they present. Meanwhile, municipalities in other areas of the country are taking the fight to court over whether to allow the landscaping equipment.

The unmistakable roar of a leaf blower is one all too familiar to those with neighbors. In some instances, lawn care companies or apartment complexes will break out the leaf blower all year round in order to maintain a clean front step. The sound, a high-pitched whining, can hit a decibel level higher than the threshold that damages a person’s hearing.^[1] Additionally, the small attached engine means using a gas-powered blower for an hour creates as much pollution as driving a car for 1,100 miles.^[2] According to 2020 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that encompassed several types of fossil fuel-powered lawn equipment, these tools emitted nearly 22,000 tons of fine particulates, which are linked to “respiratory ailments, reproductive and mental health issues, and even premature death.”^[3] That is as much pollution as would be produced annually by 234 million typical cars.^[4] The studied tools were also blamed for emitting more tons of carbon dioxide than was produced in the entire city of Los Angeles in 2021.^[5]

Gas-powered leaf blowers have been used for decades, with the first iteration manifesting around 1950 as spray machines for agricultural pesticides.^[6] In the 1970s, gas-powered blowers became more popular.^[7] Just two decades later, in the 1990s, several California cities adopted use and sale regulations, citing heavy air pollution and the high decibel level of sound they emit.^[8] Years later, in 2018, Washington, D.C. banned the use and sale of gas-powered blowers outright.^[9] Companies or individuals that use these blowers in the District are now subject to fines of up to $500 for each offense.^[10] In 2024, Montgomery County, Maryland passed its own ban of the lawn tools, prohibiting their sale starting in July 2024, and prohibiting their use starting in July 2025.^[11] Virginia passed a bill that leaves the decision about leaf blowers up to each municipality.^[12] Since then, cities like Alexandria, Virginia have considered proposals on banning the gas-powered blowers.^[13]

Outside of the DMV, some cities’ bans were met with blowback, and first-of-its-kind litigation. In 2023, New Jersey Township Montclair approved Ordinance O-23-31, which prohibited the use of the gas-powered blowers, and imposed hourly restrictions on using electric blowers.^[14] In October that year, a group of landscape companies took the town to federal court.^[15] They claimed that the law violated the U.S. and New Jersey Constitutions’ Equal Protection Clause, Federal Takings doctrine, and the Supremacy Clause.^[16] The district court disagreed on all three claims.^[17]

First, the court found the ordinance did not violate the Equal Protection Clause, even though the statute created classifications based on the type of leaf blower.^[18] The court determined these “discriminatory classifications” of gas-powered blowers passed the rational basis test, holding that protecting public health and welfare was a legitimate government interest as was stated in the law’s purpose.^[19] Second, the court held that the Landscaper-Plaintiffs failed on their Takings claim because they did not show that the statute deprived them of all economically beneficial use of their property or interfered with their “reasonable investment-backed expectations,” since they could still use or sell their gas-powered leaf blowers outside of Montclair.^[20] Finally, the court found for the township on the Supremacy Clause claim, reasoning that the ordinance was not preempted by the Clean Air Act, because it did not directly conflict with emissions control standards.^[21]

The plaintiffs appealed, and the district court’s ruling was upheld by the Third Circuit in December 2024.^[22] The outcome of this court battle could ward off challenges in other states, or it may set the stage for a battle in state court, as New Jersey is set to pass a statewide bill that would prohibit the sale of two-stroke leaf blowers, the most affordable, and most polluting version.^[23]

 

^[1] Leaf Blower Facts, Citizens for a Quieter Sacramento, https://www.nonoise.org/quietnet/cqs/leafblow.htm#:~:text=The%20average%20blower%20measures%2070,louder%20at%20any%20closer%20distance(last visited March 29, 2025).

^[2] Wayne Parry, U.S. bans on gasoline-powered leaf blowers grow, as does blowback from landscaping industry, AP News (June 20, 2024, 3:13 PM), https://apnews.com/article/gas-powered-leaf-blower-bans-landscaping-climate-bcd6f7ffbd92abdf00d699457ce5333a.

^[3] Tony Dutzik, et al., Lawn care goes electric, Env’t Am. (Oct. 30, 2023), https://environmentamerica.org/center/resources/lawn-care-goes-electric/.

^[4] Id.

^[5] Id.

^[6] A History of Powerful Innovation, Echo, https://www.echo-usa.com/about/company-history (last visited March 29, 2025).

^[7] Id.

^[8] Jonathan Vankin, California’s New Leaf Blower Ban, Explained: Relief From Noise and Air Pollution On the Way, Sometime, California Local (Dec. 17, 2021, 12:00 AM), https://californialocal.com/localnews/statewide/ca/article/show/1612-leaf-blower-ban-explained/#:~:text=The%20beachside%20L.A.%20County%20city,and%20Palo%20Alto%20in%202005.

^[9] Leaf Blower Regulation Amendment Act of 2018, D.C. Mun. Regs. tit. 20 § 2808.6(b).

^[10] Id.

^[11] Gas Leaf Blowers are Out, Electric Are In-Law Changing July 1, 2025, My Green Montgomery.Org (July 20, 2024), https://mygreenmontgomery.org/2024/montgomery-countys-leafblower-law-what-does-it-mean-for-me/#:~:text=When%20Does%20the%20Prohibition%20Begin,prohibited%20starting%20July%201%2C%202025.

^[12] Scott Broom, Leaf blowers continue to be banned across the DMV, WUSA9 (Sept. 13, 2024, 6:09 PM), https://www.wusa9.com/article/tech/science/environment/gas-leaf-blower-bans-noise-emissions-maryland-washington-virginia-environment-pollution-scott-broom/65-c4f8a3b8-943e-4354-9f77-900697a288ec.

^[13]Luke Lukert, Northern Virginia city considers gas-powered leaf blower ban, WTOP (Jan. 27, 2025, 5:20 PM), https://wtop.com/alexandria/2025/01/northern-virginia-city-considers-gas-powered-leaf-blower-ban/.

^[14] Township of Montclair, NJ Code Chapter 219 § 219-3: Limitation on use of leaf blowers, https://ecode360.com/42952623#43039935.

^[15] Gaia Gardens LLC v. Twp. of Montclair, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185495, at *2 (D.N.J. October 14, 2023).

^[16] Id. at 6.

^[17] Id.

^[18] Id. at 11.

^[19] Id.

^[20] Id. at 18.

^[21] Id. at 24.

^[22] Gaia Gardens LLC v. Twp. of Montclair, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 32464, at *2 (3rd Cir. 2024).

^[23] Jelani Gibson, N.J. wants to ban gas-powered leaf blowers. Here’s what the plan looks like, NJ.com (Aug. 7, 2024, 12:04 PM), https://www.nj.com/politics/2024/08/nj-wants-to-ban-gas-powered-leaf-blowers-heres-what-the-plan-looks-like.html.