It’s official: California’s powerful Air Resources Board has passed new rules that will phase out the sale of gasoline-powered lawn equipment and generators.

The aim isn’t to make your weekends quieter, but to save the planet…one leaf blower at a time. The new rules:

…will require most newly manufactured small off-road engines such as those found in leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other equipment be zero emission starting in 2024. Portable generators, including those in recreational vehicles, would be required to meet more stringent standards in 2024 and meet zero-emission standards starting in 2028.

Just don’t call it a ban, says the CARB, because those who cling to their lawn mowers will not have to scrap them once the new non-ban goes into effect.

And yes, it’s all to save the Earth:

Despite their small size, these engines are highly polluting. The volume of smog-forming emissions from this type of equipment has surpassed emissions from light-duty passenger cars and is projected to be nearly twice those of passenger cars by 2031. Today, a commercial operator using one backpack leaf blower for one hour generates the same smog-forming emissions as a car driving 1100 miles.  These regulations will reduce emissions of smog-forming emissions by 72 tons per day.

Never mind where the electricity comes to fuel those battery-powered replacement. Or that California’s electric grid is a shambles. Or that lawn maintenance companies will have to buy new gear. There’s a program for some of them, thanks to taxpayers:

The Legislature has allocated $30 million to be dedicated to sole proprietors and other small landscaping businesses in California to help them purchase zero-emission small off-road equipment, including leaf blowers, lawn mowers and string trimmers.

The rest of those companies, and do-it-yourselfers, can go pound sand. And buy a rake.