Sen. Kit Bond: Mowing Down Lawn Mower Reform

[rodeodance]

http://www.thinkprogress.org/?tag=Congress

Sen. Kit Bond: Mowing Down Lawn Mower Reform

Operating a gas-powered lawnmower for one hour emits as much air pollution as driving a car for 13 hours, according to the California Air Resources Board. But Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) has teamed up with Briggs & Stratton, the dominant lawn mower engine maker, to oppose lawn mower reform. (Briggs & Stratton operates two plants in Missouri.)

Bond has blocked a bill by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to limit emissions from lawn mowers and other garden equipment by installing catalytic converters. Bond and Briggs & Stratton argue that “converters could add a dangerous amount of heat to already hot engines, creating a fire hazard.” But an EPA study requested by Bond directly refutes his claim:

Our technical work and subsequent analysis of all of the data and information strongly indicate that catalyst-based standards can be implemented without an incremental increase in the risk of fire or burn to the consumer.

Bond is now rejecting the study. Briggs & Stratton is taking its complaints to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), even though the commission staff wrote in March that it was “satisfied that likely fire hazard scenarios were accounted for” by the EPA study. But perhaps this time it will be more receptive — Bond chairs the Senate committee that funds the CPSC.

More lawn mower myths at Gristmill.

[gratuitous]

1. Another reason to vote Democratic

Cleaner lawnmowers, more breatheable air in the summer.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Quieter ones, too. And leafblowers?

[DUHandle]

3. An increase in fuel efficiency could offset the expense

of adding the converters, which I'll suppose is Briggs' real reason for opposing them.

Lawn care is a sacred cow to many in the middle class, who might drive less now that gas has gone up, but won't cut their lawn any fewer times.

[Mugu]

22. A catalytic converter alters the exhaust gas chemistry,

but does not improve efficiency. It will still require the same amount of gasoline to mow your yard. The consumer sees no change in the use of the machine other than increased heat and expense.

That’s the reason that Briggs doesn’t like it. The consumer still sees a lawnmower and wonders why they’re twice the expense they were last year.

[Mugu]

4. In one hour my lawnmower requires about one quart of gasoline.

In 13 hours my car will burn about 28 ((65 mph * 13 hrs)/30 mpg)) gallons of gasoline. I agree that gallon for gallon that the lawnmower pollutes more, but 28 gallons burned pollutes less than a quart burned? I'm having some difficulty believing that statistic.

[progressivebydesign]

8. I agree with you Mugu. I can't believe that statisitic, either.

Does that mean they'll be regulating dirt bikes, too? Cuz the off road ones don't have any kind of smog reducing equipment and they run a lot longer than lawnmowers. I'd like to see the science on the lawnmowers... remember, we were also told that cow farts were destroying the ozone layer.

[DUHandle]

10. I won’t write off the statistic quite yet

Cars are optimized for emissions and small engines are not.

[bleedingheart]

5. another reason to get rid of unnecessary grass with gardens and

trees and shrubbery..
I have a neighbor down the street that is slowly replacing his lawn (which is a sloping area) with a creeping juniper.. it is lovely and never needs to be mowed...

While I think a nice grassy area for play is good...some people create more work for themselves by having so much grass...plant trees, shrubbery and gardens...

[progressivebydesign]

9. I will never give up my gardens. EVER.

Lawns.. I'm all for reducing them as much as possible, but not replacing all together. But gardens and shrubs? What's the point of being alive if you don't have flowers to look at and smell???

[bleedingheart]

13. I love my gardens...and it provides a great physical work out as

weed and tend to it...

[catmandu57]

6. Bond is an idiot and an embarrassment

to this state, a damn whiskey drunk with a w.c. Fields nose, unfortunately we have a few more years of this asshat, but, we're going to get rid of our jr. senator this year, that's a pretty sure thing.

[0007]

12. The sooner the better.....a brown noser, a yes man and in the

same class as junior.

[treestar]

7. If gas costs so much, could it end up that some can't afford

a riding mower and are stuck with using an old fashioned push mower?

Helps solve the obesity epidemic at the same time.

[MadHound]

11. Some of us need a riding mower

Are you volunteering to come and push mow my five acres of lawn? Sorry, but some of us need those riders.

However I have been giving some serious cosideration to getting a couple of sheep and let them do the mowing.

[DUHandle]

14. Gardens aren’t the best answer either

Since they require effort and expense. I’m speaking as someone who has a few large beds and a tractor for the lawn.

[MadHound]

15. I would love to get a small tractor,

One of those small 24HP John Deeres with the PTO, hydraulics for the front loader, and the six foot finishing mower deck. Perfect thing for my little farm, and not just for mowing either.

As far as grass goes, I'm actually trying to get zoyza to take hold and spread. Good stuff, it grows low and slow, grows thick enough to keep out weeds, and does well in high heat/drought situations.

[sendero]

16. I have one..

... and they are GREAT :) Mines a Kioti (Korean, assembled in NC) with 35 hp, a FEL, 4wd and I have a bush hog, a disc and a box blade.

It's amazing the stuff you can get done with one of these things :) It runs about an hour on a gallon of diesel...

[MadHound]

17. Hey, if yours runs on diesel,

You can run it on your own biodiesel, and save yourself a bundle of money.

I'm looking to pick mine up within a couple of years, looking forward to it:hi:

[sendero]

20. I've been intending to look into that..

... there is another discussion board where tractors is the main subject. Several of the folks there are doing just that!

[DUHandle]

18. Those are mighty nice

http://www.kioti.com/ and I could have used one when my well took a dump last year.

I would up digging a grave-sized hole to inspect the lateral to casing connection.

[sendero]

19. I have a place in the country..

... and I go there on weekends.

With my DK35 I've:

bush hog about 5 clear acres twice a year
dig a "bar" ditch and slot for a 12" culvert pipe, drag the (iron, very heavy) pipe into said slot
level out a new road with about 20 buckets of dirt
drag felled tree trunks around with chains
push tree brush into compact piles for burning
prepare a gardening plot with repeated disking
drag my damn truck out when stuck in the mud (twice)
various dirt moving, digging and levelling chores
haul and spread crushed rock over road and driveways

Oh and did I mention, all this stuff is fun to do :) It's really funny, when I got the thing it was mainly for the mowing. I never really thought about all the things you can do with a tractor. And the FEL is invaluable, don't get one without it!!!

[bunkerbuster1]

21. Lawns are such a pain in the ass.

If you do manage to keep a creeping, low-growing grass that "only" requires mowing every couple of weeks (like the Bermuda grass we have in our zone), it means you're going to have to pour on lots of fertilizer and weedkiller at regular intervals. (which use energy to produce, and the runoff is bad for the local streams.)

The least we Americans can do is to adopt reasonable standards for lawn mowers. It's not rocket science to attach a cat to the exhaust, and it shouldn't be that much more expensive.