Two environmental/quality of life bills by Councilmember Alan Gerson got favorable receptions from City Council committees last week and are expected to win approval by both the committees and the full Council soon.
Gerson’s Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel Fuel Bill, or 191-A, is expected to pass the Council’s Environmental Protection Committee this Friday, according to Dirk McCall, Gerson’s chief of staff. The bill would first take effect in Manhattan south of 14th St. and would require construction vehicles, which are currently unregulated for emissions, to use low-sulfur diesel fuel and be retrofitted with exhaust filters. The bill, inspired by concern about the massive construction site at the World Trade Center, would go into effect 90 days after its passage by the full Council — expected next Tuesday or Wednesday — and would be implemented citywide after one year.
“We expect to have 34, 33 Councilmembers on board. It should be veto-proof,” McCall said. In other words, even if Mayor Bloomberg opposes the bill, it would become law.
Another Gerson-sponsored bill, on reducing noise from metal street plating that covers work sites, received an enthusiastic reception from the Council’s Transportation Committee last week. However, the bill is being sent back to the city’s Department of Transportation for review, McCall said. Some technical details need to be worked out, such as the best way to baffle the noisy plates — how many bolts should be used — and who signs off on the work, he said.
“John Liu, chairperson of the [Council’s] Transportation Committee, was very supportive of the street-plating bill,” said McCall, who noted that the bill was actually a merger of separate street-plating bills by Councilmember Eva Moskowitz and Gerson. “It’s like 95 percent Gerson, 5 percent Moskowitz,” McCall said. “Moskowitz’s bill is like one paragraph; Gerson’s is three pages.”
