Although Boston Mayor Thomas Menino initiated several programs aimed at maintaining the city’s environmentally-friendly reputation over the past few months, environmental agency officials are unsure that the mayor’s decisions will have a direct effect on the overall environmental improvements.
In March, Boston officials initiated the Green Power Partnership — a deal that includes the purchase of 8 percent of the city’s electrical power from renewable energy sources. Last week, Menino introduced the first hybrid-taxi cabs.
David Deegan, spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, said that to credit the mayor with any direct improvements would be “a bit dubious.”
Deegan said although the city’s environmental quality has improved over the past few years, it is difficult to credit one person’s policies with the improvement because there are so many external factors, including state and federal regulations, that contribute to the results.
“It is definitely true that as a region New England air is cleaner than it was 20 years ago,” he said, adding that he was suspicious about the effectiveness of Menino’s plans.
But Deegan agreed the city has worked to reduce the amounts of sulfur emitted into the air, which is dangerous to the environment. He said that in the past few years, Boston converted all tour buses to run on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel.
“This [improvement of air quality] is especially evident in acid rain,” he said. “Sulfur emissions are the primary cause of acid rain and we’ve had a decrease in this since 1990 in the New England areas.”
Other officials, however, said recent regulations have made huge changes in the environment, and that the process is ongoing.
Jim Hunt, Boston’s chief of environment and energy services, said the city has led the way nationally in terms of sustainable development.
“In the last year, we’ve accomplished a great deal in Boston when it comes to environment sustainability,” he said.
“We converted all of our diesel fleet to bio diesel,” Hunt said. “Bio-diesel is a vegetable oil-type project used to fuel diesel vehicles. We are the largest municipal user of bio-diesel in New England and I think they’re a huge success.”
He said the city also furthered its commitment to renewable energy sources last week after unveiling the first hybrid taxi — a plan officials say will reduce gasoline consumption and improve air quality since hybrid cars emit far fewer gasses than regular automobiles.
“These hybrid taxis will reduce costs to the drivers and reduce air pollution,” he added. “The fuel economy is two to three times greater than the existing vehicles. It will bring better air quality to the city by lowering emissions generated by taxis.”
However, while admitting that hybrid cars improve the city’s air quality, many Boston cab drivers have met this new initiative with some skepticism.
Steve Sullivan, general manager for Metro-Cab Boston, said the city has not made the new hybrid vehicles affordable to taxis drivers. Individual drivers — not the companies — are responsible for purchasing vehicles, paying for maintenance and insuring their cars.
“Right now, economically, it doesn’t look good,” he said. “The cheapest hybrids on the market are approximately $35,000. For people driving the taxis, that’s beyond what they can come up with.”
He added that the city has offered some assistance those wishing to purchase hybrid taxis, including allowing them to keep hybrids on the road for five years as opposed to the four years allowed regular gasoline cars.
“Right now [drivers] can get a car that costs them between $7,000 and $9,000 a year for four years,” Sullivan said. “For it to be feasible, they would have to give them at least seven years to bring it into line with what they’re paying.
“They are paying the insurance, the maintenance and the fuel charge,” he continued. “The hybrids are definitely the way to go in the future. But for five years on the road, it seems to be missing something.”