(NewsNation) — A rule being proposed by New York City regulators would require restaurants that use charbroilers to cut back on emissions by 75%.
The proposal, floated by the New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, would make it so restaurants that charbroil more than 875 pounds of meat a week and that have grills installed before May 2016 would need to install an emissions control device, the New York Post reports.
These charbroilers release about 4,000 tons of particulate matter into the air every single year, New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection says.
Rohit Aggarwala, the city’s chief climate officer and DEP commissioner, told NewsNation in a statement that the agency believes the new rule can reduce deaths in New York City by 300 people a year.
However, restaurants say following the potential rule would be expensive.
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The NYC Hospitality Alliance said in a statement that it supports cleaner air, but the city should provide grants and financial support to help small businesses meet its imposed goals.
While the city currently says they don’t have plans to do that, businesses can apply for exemption or hardship waivers.
Junior’s restaurant owner Alan Rosen said on “Morning in America” that the city has bigger issues to worry about “than the 875 pounds of meat potentially that we cooked in each of our restaurants.” He argued the rule is government overreach.
“It just sounds like they have bigger fish to fry or burgers to cook,” he said. “It’s literally a nothing burger and should not be on anyone’s radar.”
There is a hearing over the legislation scheduled for Jan. 29.
