HEATING OIL BILL SIGNED

By [Alice Robb] New Yorkers can take a deep breath without worrying that their lungs will suffer for it. Soon, air pollution from toxic heating fuels will be reduced. Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill into law Aug. 16 that would require heating oil used in most East Side buildings to have a lower sulfur count. The law also requires that heating oil used in the city contain two percent biodiesel. A 2009 study by the city"s Health Department found that the Upper East Side had some of the dirtiest air in the city. The poor air quality was attributed to the high number of old buildings that still have furnaces burning particularly dirty oil known as No. 4 or 6. A separate study by the Environmental Defense Fund mapped out buildings that use these polluting oils and found a high cluster in the Upper East Side, which is home to decades-old tenement and pre-war buildings. The sulfur content of No. 4 heating oil must contain half of the sulfur content than it does now. â??Heart disease rates will go down, asthma cases will recede and it will literally become easier for New Yorkers to breathe, said Jason Schwartz, legal fellow at the Institute for Policy Integrity.