According to The New York Post, a handful of “snitches” raked in close to $1 million each from the city just by recording videos of idling trucks and buses spewing air pollution, prompting local officials to reexamine the program.
“The days of the six-figure bounty hunters are over,” said Queens City Councilman James Gennaro, who chairs the Environmental Committee. “We’re not doing that anymore. The program was not intended to be an occupation.”
NYC’s Citizen Idling Complaint Program, which was launched in 2019, awards “citizen enforcers” 25% of the fines pursued by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and substantiated by the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). They can receive 50% of any substantiated offense that goes directly to OATH. With fines ranging from $350 to $2,000 for idling and 95% of the complaints substantiated, the rewards add up quickly.
According to DEP records obtained by The Post, the five top-earning “enviro-enforcers” raked in between $582,800 and $895,737 – simply by taking phone videos of trucks idling for more than three minutes or school buses for more than one minute and submitting them as evidence to the DEP and OATH. Unsurprisingly, the number of bounty-hunter submissions fielded by the DEP skyrocketed in recent years – increasing from 49,000 in 2022 to 124,000 in 2024. More than 100,000 have been filed this year, as of early November.
“At a time of rising costs and growing affordability concerns for working New Yorkers, wealthy individuals are the ones profiting from a law meant to protect the public,” explained Matthew W. Daus, Esq., founder and chair of the Windels Marx Transportation Practice Group. “What began as a well-intentioned environmental initiative has turned into a system ripe for abuse that unfairly targets the very transportation providers who serve the public every day. The way this program has been implemented has had serious, unintended consequences for the regulated industries that keep the city moving, particularly motorcoaches, interstate and charter buses, and limousines. For these operators, idling is often unavoidable: engines must run to power safety systems, wheelchair lifts, air conditioning, and brakes. Constantly shutting down and restarting vehicles can be unsafe, and it compromises comfort for passengers, including children, seniors, and people with disabilities. The City’s environmental mission is critical, but enforcement must not enrich a few opportunists at the expense of working people and essential public services. The Citizens Air Complaint Program, as it stands, demands serious reform.”
Sources: The New York Post, Windels Marx
