Governments are increasingly removing noisy leaf blowers from neighborhoods.

There are now 217 policies or programs in 26 states, plus Washington, D.C., that target gas-powered leaf blowers, a nonprofit U.S. public interest research group said Wednesday.

Actions range from outright bans on the use and sale of gas-powered leaf blowers to restrictions on their use and financial incentives for transitioning to electric leaf blowers.

There is little effort to curb gas-powered leaf blowers in the South, but much more activity in the Northeast and California, a policy map shows.

So far, bans on gas-powered leaf blowers have been passed in 77 locations, such as Fairfax, California and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

And since the beginning of 2024 in California, all newly manufactured lawn equipment must be zero emissions.

But the most popular policies are programs that offer financial incentives, usually from utilities, to switch to less noisy and polluting electric leaf blowers.

The incentive programs are present in 80 locations, including many in Colorado.

But not everyone agrees: Texas and Georgia have banned municipalities from restricting or discouraging the use of certain gas-powered lawn equipment.

On the business side, retailers Lowe’s and Home Depot’s have set goals to sell more electric lawn equipment as part of their environmental goals.