Homeowners are beginning to pull mowers and trimmers out of garages and sheds to work on their lawns, and although the gasoline-fueled tools might make the yard look presentable, they could be bad news for human health and the environment.
Lawn mowers, trimmers, chainsaws and leaf blowers, which are powered by gasoline, can create volatile organic compounds according to a public/private air quality group.
Southwestern Pennsylvania Air Quality Partnership's Program Coordinator Betsy Mallison said those compounds "bake" in the summer sun and produce ground-level ozone, which is a health-hazard.
To reduce the amount of ground-level ozone, the partnership is offering 400 first-come, first-serve rebates on battery- or electric-powered lawn mowers, trimmers, leaf blowers, chainsaws and human-powered push mowers.
Pennsylvania residents must purchase the new equipment at a participating True Value Store by June 1 and hand over their gas-powered equipment. Rebate information must be sent to the partnership by June 15.
The rebates are only valid at True Value stores at 15 locations in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene and Westmoreland counties.
