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SALT LAKE CITY — A pollution-reducing program popular with the public is back again this spring, with the Utah Department of Environmental Quality offering electric lawnmowers or trimmers at a reduced price.
Mandatory online registration and prepayment of the equipment opens Wednesday, with the lawnmower exchange slated for April 23 at the agency's offices, 195 N. 1950 West.
The agency is offering 944 electric lawnmowers and 732 electric trimmers at a discounted price. The mowers are $175, discounted to $100 if a gas-powered machine is turned in. Electric trimmers are $75, or $25 if a gas-powered trimmer is scrapped.
Machines are available on a first come, first served basis as part of the Clean Air Retrofit, Replacement, and Off-Road Technology or CARROT program, established in 2014 with funding from the Utah Legislature.
Designed to encourage individuals, businesses and local government to cut pollution through equipment upgrades, the program received $200,000 in its first year and $700,000 from state lawmakers in the 2015-16 budget cycle.
This year, the program did not receive any funding, despite a budget request by Gov. Gary Herbert to continue the incentives with $500,000 for CARROT.
State air quality regulators say emissions from one gas-powered lawn mower operating for just an hour are the equivalent to the emissions from a passenger car traveling 169 miles. Over a year, the machine creates pollutants equal to 4,235 vehicle miles traveled.
In the previous lawn mower exchange, regulators estimated it was the same as taking 120 vehicles off the road.
Bryce Bird, director of the agency's Division of Air Quality, said he wants to continue the exchange despite the lack of money.
"Although there will be no funding after July 1st, I am hopeful that the program will be available in the future," he said. "Identifying new ways to do work while reducing the impacts to the air are critical to improving air quality as our state continues to grow. The program has been very successful at replacing older, highly polluting equipment with newer technology that reduces air pollution while doing the same work."
