Two Cleveland City Council Members Introduce Idle Reduction Ordinance to Minimize Diesel Hot Spots
One out of every five people living in the Cleveland metro area lives in a diesel hot spot—an area with chronically elevated levels of toxic air emissions from diesel engine exhaust—and are at greater risk of suffering from asthma, cancer and even premature death, according to the report Cleveland Diesel Hot-Spots—Dirty, Detrimental and Deadly. The estimated 466,000 people living in Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties live in a diesel hot spot—22 percent of the area’s total population. The top twelve communities with the most people living in diesel hot spots were Cleveland, Elyria, East Cleveland, Strongsville, Garfield Heights, Mentor, Maple Heights, Painesville, North Olmsted, Bedford Heights and Lakewood—with East Cleveland and Bedford Heights having more than 60 percent of its residents living in a diesel hot spot.
Northeast Ohio continually receives a failing grade when it comes to the quality of its air. A major contributor to the region’s poor air quality comes from diesel exhaust. Unlike other sources of air pollution, diesel emissions pose a particular threat because they are released at ground level where they are easily inhaled by people.
The report identifies a diesel hot spot as an area located within a quarter-mile of a roadway with particulate matter emission levels of at least 675 grams per mile per day. This amount is the equivalent to the particulate matter emission levels from an average major urban roadway with annual traffic levels equivalent to 20,000 vehicles per day, or urban highways with traffic levels equal to 32,000 vehicles per day. Diesel exhaust contains hundreds of harmful pollutants, including fine particulate matter that penetrates the lungs and ozone-forming nitrogen oxides.
The Cleveland Clean Air Century Campaign (a division of the American Lung Association), Earth Day Coalition, Ohio Environmental Council and Clean Air Task Force joined together to release the diesel hot spots report and form the Cleveland Clean Diesel Campaign. Using the information from the report, these partner groups are working with community members, planning officials and fleets in support of strategies to reduce diesel pollution in Cleveland.
The good news is that something can be done to clean up diesel pollution in Northeast Ohio. The key is to simply turn your engine off when stopped for more than 10 seconds. Cities like South Euclid have gone a step farther in adopting a citywide idle reduction ordinance. A citywide ordinance signifies that all vehicles traveling in that city are required to obey idle reduction regulations. Twenty states have statewide, county or citywide idling limiting ordinances or regulations. The City of Cleveland and every city in Northeast Ohio can and should consider a citywide idle reduction ordinance that targets non-essential idling. Significant emission and health risk reductions occur when idle reduction laws are in place, especially in hot spot neighborhoods where diesel exhaust is concentrated.
Cleveland Councilmen Matt Zone (Ward 17) and Anthony Brancatelli (Ward 12) are co-sponsoring a citywide idle reduction ordinance. This important legislation will be introduced to Council by spring. This initiative will help address Northeast Ohio’s non-attainment status for particulates, clean the air and improve public health, and save resources, fuel and wear-and-tear on vehicles.
Zone, president of the Northeast Ohio City Council Association (NOCCA), will present Cleveland’s proposed ordinance as a model for a regional clean air initiative at NOCCA’s next meeting in February. As an organization, NOCCA has been around since 1989 and continues to grow, representing more than 40 cities in Northeast Ohio.
More than twelve cities across Northeast Ohio have agreed to support this initiative, realizing that a regional solution to this problem is critical. “Air pollution does not respect geographical or political boundaries, so we must work together,” Zone said.
Want to get involved in cleaning up diesel emission in your neighborhood? Join the Cleveland Clean Diesel Campaign and ask your school, church or organization to endorse the Diesel Clean-Up Platform.
For more information or to help reduce vehicle idling in your community, contact Earth Day Coalition at 216-281-6468 or visit the following websites: American Lung Association at www.lungusa.org; Earth Day Coalition at www.earthdaycoalition.org;
Ohio Environmental Council at www.theoec.org; and Clean Air Task Force at www.catf.us