Colorado may be backing off lawn mower ban to fight ozone

A proposed ban on the sale of new gas-powered lawn equipment in the Denver metro area may be off the table after state health department staff recommended an alternate proposal that merely bars state and local government use of gas machines in summer months. 

The Regional Air Quality Council, the government-designated advisory group charged with monitoring and fighting the ozone problem in nine Front Range counties, is asking the state Air Quality Control Commission for both a new sales ban and a block on all government and commercial landscapers using gas-powered machines in the summer.

Air monitoring and environmental experts say lawn and gas equipment contribute a small but measurable and controllable portion of Colorado’s ozone violations. Gas mowers and blowers used…