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PlaNYC Land Water Transportation Energy Air Climate CHange
The Plan - Focusing on the five key dimensions of the city’s environment — land, air, water, energy, and transportation — we have developed a plan that can become a model for cities in the 21st century [an error occurred while processing this directive]
Air - Despite recent improvements, New York City still falls short of meeting federal air quality standards. That's why we will continue pressuring the State and Federal governments to reduce harmful emissions – while aggressively targeting the sources we can control. Transportation is responsible for more than 50% of our local air pollution; as a result, we will focus on reducing emissions from on and off-road vehicles. We will also address our other major sources of emissions - buildings and power plants - by switching to cleaner fuels for heating and retiring old, polluting plants. Natural solutions such as planting one million trees will bring us the rest of the way towards the cleanest air of any big city in the country. To track our progress and target our solutions more effectively we will launch the largest local air quality study in the United States.
Joyce Dopkeen/The New York Times
Air Initiatives
Click on the initiatives below for more details
1: Capture the air quality benefits of transportation plan
 
2: Improve fuel efficiency of private cars
  • Waive New York City's sales tax on the cleanest, most efficient vehicles
  • Work with the MTA, the Port Authority, and the State DOT to promote hybrid and other clean vehicles
  • Pilot new technologies and fuels, including hydrogen and plug-in hybrid vehicles
3: Reduce emissions from taxis, black cars, and for-hire vehicles
  • Reduce taxi and limousine idling
  • Work with the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) and the taxicab industry to double the taxi fleet’s efficiency
  • Work with stakeholders to double the fuel efficiency of black cars and for-hire vehicles
4:  Replace, retrofit, and refuel diesel trucks
  • Introduce biodiesel into the City’s truck fleet, go beyond compliance with local laws, and further reduce emissions
  • Accelerate emissions reductions of private fleets through existing Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) programs
  • Work with stakeholders and the State to create incentives for the adoption of vehicle emission control and efficiency strategies
  • Improve compliance of existing anti-idling laws through targeted educational campaign
5:  Decrease school bus emissions
Retrofit both large and small school buses and reduce their required retirement age
6:   Retrofit ferries and mandate use cleaner fuels
  • Retrofit the Staten Island Ferry fleet to reduce emissions
  • Work with private ferries to reduce their emissions
7: Partner with the Port Authority to reduce emissions from port facilities
Seek to work with the Port Authority to reduce emissions from the Ports marine vehicles, port facilities and airports
8:  Implement more efficient construction management practices
Accelerate adoption of technologies to reduce construction related emissions
9:  Capture the air quality benefits of our energy strategy
 
10:  Promote the use of cleaner burning heating fuels
  • Lower the maximum sulfur content in heating fuel from 2000 ppm to 500 ppm
  • Reduce emissions from boilers in 100 city public schools
11: Capture the benefits of our public realm plan
 
12: Reforest targeted areas of our parkland
Reforest 2,000 acres of parkland
13: Increase tree plantings on lots

Partner with stakeholders to help plant one million trees by 2017

Mayor Bloomberg and Bette Midler Plant the First of One Million Trees and Launch MillionTreesNYC

14: Launch collaborative local air quality study
Monitor and model neighborhood-level air quality across New York City
Learn More About
Download
Read the PlaNYC report on Air
(in PDF)
MillionTreesNYC
Visit MillionTreesNYC and get involved.
Download
Read Progress Report 2008 on Air
(in PDF)
Additional Sources
Topics:
Local Law 77, NYC City Council

U.S. EPA Region 2 Air Program

Division of Air Resources, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Air and Noise, NYC Department of Environmental Protection

Air Quality awareness Program, NYC Department of Transportation

Alternative Fuels Program, NYC Department of Transportation

Working Towards a Sustainable City: Accomplishments and Agenda, Preliminary Draft, 2005, NYC City Council

General Websites:
NYC Department of Environmental Protection

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