# Posted: No Idling!

*Published:* 2007-08-27
*Author:* Sheryl Canter

*The author of today’s post, Sheryl Canter, is an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.*

[Forward-looking New Jersey](https://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2007/06/26/nj_climate_bill/) has done it again with its "[Stop the Soot](http://www.stopthesoot.org/)" initiative – an outreach program to educate people about the impact of idling car and truck engines. Idling spews pollutants into the atmosphere and burns a surprising amount of fuel. As noted on our [driving tips page](http://fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=268), idling for more than 10 seconds uses more gas and creates more global warming pollution than simply restarting your engine.

The New Jersey initiative has teeth: revised idling regulations went into effect on July 25. Diesel-powered vehicles may no longer idle for more than three minutes unless it’s very cold out, or they are picking up or discharging passengers – and even then they can idle for no longer than 15 minutes. There are a few exceptions – notably truckers using sleeper berths. They will be able to idle to power heating and cooling systems until May 1, 2010, but after that alternate power sources must be used.

I hope New Jersey’s initiative starts a movement across the country. No more idling – pass it on!