Lawns Look Great, But The Air Is Foul

To Reduce Smog, Calif. Pushes To Place Catalytic Converters On Lawn Mowers

(CBS)  It may not look like a pollution monster, but California officials say the old family lawn mower is a smog machine.

Taken altogether, the little engines foul the state's air with 22 tons of pollutants a day, the equivalent of 800,000 cars a day, reports CBS News correspondent Jerry Bowen.

"In California, lawn mowers put out as much pollution today as about 25 percent of the cars combined," says Frank O'Donnell, president of the non-profit group Clean Air Watch.

"And as the cars get cleaner and cleaner, lawn mowers become a bigger and bigger part of the pollution problem," O'Donnell adds.

The solution? California air regulators say it's simple: adding catalytic converters to lawn mower engines – the same device used on cars to cut smog.

"Air pollution control would not be where it is today without the catalytic converter. There is absolutely no questions about that," Bob Cross, of California's Clean Air Resources Board, says.

But Briggs and Stratton, America's largest mower engine manufacturer is strongly resisting. And with two plants in Missouri, the company is getting some extraordinary help from Missouri Senator Christopher Bond.

The Republican senator declined to talk to CBS News, but his 2002 campaign ad said Missouri jobs were in jeopardy because of California's clean air proposals.

Briggs and Stratton also declined to be interviewed, but an industry spokesman said the issue is safety, claiming that catalytic converters run hot and could start fires.

"One wildfire, one grass fire, regardless of the safety concerns it poses, will also put a lot of emissions into the air," Aranjit Sahu of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute says.

"Back in the 1970s you had people running around saying if you put catalytic converters in cars it would set fires all across America. Well that didn't happen and it's not going to happen here," O'Donnell fires back.

What has happened is that Sen. Bond has been able to delay new regulations in California by requiring EPA studies of the standards. When the EPA approved the new standards, Bond's office complained the EPA study was flawed.

"Although they have done some work, we don't think they have covered the real life use of this equipment," Sahu says of the study.

California's tougher lawn mower regulations may take effect next year, but they'll stop at the border. Bond engineered federal legislation that prevents other states from adopting the California standards.