Over 400 of the city's public schools burn a type of heating oil that is known to injure New Yorkers' health, according to a 2009 report by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Though just one percent of New York City's buildings use No. 4 or 6 oil, those few buildings belch out 87 percent of the soot emitted from burning heating oil in the City.

On February 1, Community Board 7 passed a resolution asking the city to take "immediate steps" to replace schools' boilers so that they can burn cleaner fuels, particularly natural gas. The Number 4 or 6 oil that the board would like to eliminate is also known as "refinery sludge."

The city has been trying to move forward on getting rid of dirty oil boilers, which lead to illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis, and create emissions that the city has pledged to reduce as part of PlaNYC 2030.  It's a rare issue, particularly one involving schools, on which all parties are at least theoretically in agreement.

There are at least 14 public schools with boilers that burn dirty oil in District 3 alone, including PS 9, MS 54, and the Brandeis complex. As a recent article on dirty oil pointed out, the Mayor's PlaNYC 2030 has called for replacing boilers at 100 schools (about a quarter of the total).  A School Construction Authority spokesperson said seven school boilers have been replaced to date, with 25 more replacements currently planned.

A map of dirty buildings can be found on theEnvironmental Defense Website. While replacing boilers is expensive, the EDF report authors say that running a cleaner boiler is cheaper in the long run, not only because of indirect savings like health care costs, but also because natural gas is expected to remain much less expensive for years to come, and boilers that use it cost less to maintain.

As Community Board 7 points out, the dirty oil boilers in coops and schools are not only polluting our communities and reducing New Yorkers’ quality of life, they are also sending money up in smoke that could be better used in the classrooms, not in our air.