Rye’s County Pol Wants to Clear the Air…

At Monday's Westchester Board of Legislators meeting, several Legislators announced a group of environmental protection priorities that they plan to pursue over the coming term. The three pieces of Legislation designed to improve the County’s carbon footprint and find financial efficiencies where possible include the “Regional Clean Air Act”, the “Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Implementation Bill” and the “LED Lighting Conversion Act.”

The “Regional Clean Air Act” is sponsored by Westchester Legislator Catherine Parker (D-Rye) and would prevent the uses of oil grade numbers 4 and 6 in any stationary combustion installation within Westchester. New York City has also recently prohibited use of number 4 and 6 fuel in multi-family buildings.

Parker explained, “The use of these oils has clearly contributed to asthma attacks as well as heart and lung disease over an extended period of exposure. There are many other types of oil in the field that burn cleaner than these do and we hope to convert as many buildings as possible to them.” Parker’s proposal would prohibit the use of number 6 on and after January 2017 with number 4 being outlawed on and after January 1, 2019.