Ashley Hintz

February 5, 2010

Last week the Vermont Legislature heard a bill that would prohibit the idling of any motor vehicle weighing over 10,000 pounds for more than five minutes within a one-hour period. The bill was passed unanimously in the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, and on February 2 was committed to the Committee on Transportation. Many groups are in support of an anti-idling law, including the Vermont Natural Resources Council and the grass-roots organization Idle-Free VT. However, some were hoping that Vermont's anti-idling law would cover more than just heavy-duty commercial vehicles, and apply to all motor vehicles. Tony Klein, an East Montpelier Democrat and chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, said that, although a good idea, an all-inclusive bill would not have had a realistic chance of being passed.

The anti-idling bill, H.97, would allow exemptions for public safety vehicles (police, fire, ambulance), military vehicles, armored vehicles when a person remains inside, and vehicles delivering fuel or energy products. A violation of the law would result in a civil violation with a penalty up to five hundred dollars.

Currently in Vermont, there are anti-idling ordinances in Burlington, Brattleboro, Middlebury, Newfane, Plainfield, Putney, and Richmond. Some supporters of H. 97 believe that a state-wide law would help with enforcing these local ordinances by offering support and strength to their current programs, as well as spreading awareness of the issue across the state.

Over fifteen other states currently have state-wide anti-idling laws, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and New Jersey. There are also many more anti-idling ordinances in towns and cities across the nation. Many states limit their laws to apply only to diesel fueled, or heavy (exceeding 8,500 or 10,000 pounds) vehicles or school buses, and put the limit at three to five minutes of idling per sixty minute period. Some, however, such as Massachusetts, apply the law to all motor vehicles, with penalties of up to one hundred dollars for a first offense, and five hundred dollars for any subsequent offenses.

The benefits of prohibiting idling are numerous. The findings under H.97 noted that "If every driver of a motor vehicle in Vermont avoided idling a motor vehicle for just five minutes a day, the state would save millions of gallons of fuel and would prevent thousands of tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and contributing to climate change." Supporters also use this basis to urge Vermont to adopt the law to help meet its statutory greenhouse gas reduction goals. Beyond climate change issues, restricting idling would also benefit human health by preventing emissions of particulate matter (which has been linked to asthma), chemicals causing ozone (which can damage lungs or lower immune systems), and exhaust (recognized by the EPA to be a likely human carcinogen).

Putting restrictions on idling can have economic effects, too. Allowing a vehicle to idle for more than ten seconds uses more fuel than restarting it. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a Vermont business with an anti-idling policy, reported a savings of 5,000 gallons of fuel per year after cutting down their idle time from 30 percent of their running time to only 10 percent.

To follow the status of H. 97, visit http://www.leg.state.vt.us/database/status/status.cfm.

Sources:

H. 97, 2009–2010 Leg. (Vt. 2009), status available at http://www.leg.state.vt.us/database/status/summary.cfm?Bill=H.0097&Session=2010.

VNRC Supports Anti-Idling Efforts, memorandum from Johanna Miller, Energy Program Co-Director & Outreach Director, VNRC, to House Natural Resources & Energy Committee (Jan. 20, 2010), available at http://www.vnrc.org/about-vnrc/vnrc-supports-anti-idling-efforts/.

American Transportation Research Institute, Compendium of Idling Regulations (Aug. 2009), available at http://www.atri-online.org/research/idling/2009ATRIIdlingComp_Aug09.pdf.

Office of Transportation and Air Quality, US Environmental Protection Agency, Compilation of State, County, and Local Anti-Idling Regulations (2006), available at http://www.epa.gov/smartway/documents/420b06004.pdf.

Daniel Barlow, Advocates Seek to Extend Idling Ban to Large Vehicles, Times Argus, Nov. 19, 2009.

Peter Hirschfeld, Anti-Idling Bill Pared Down, Vt. House Passage Now Likely, Times Argus, Jan. 30, 2010.

Kevin O'Connor, No Time to Idle: Vt. Activist is Driven to Turn Off Parked Vehicles, Rutland Herald, Sep. 28, 2008.