Now that Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been reelected, environmentalists in her Greenwich Village district will watch to see whether she delivers on her latest promises to enforce new laws against idling cars, trucks and buses.

Pollutants spewed by idling cars can cause asthma, according to the Environmental Defense Fund. The respiratory condition is a particular problem in New York City, where currently one in four children suffers from the ailment.

Quinn has promised to enforce two recently-passed idling laws, as noted in her New York League of Conservation Voters questionnaire, which provides candidates with a forum for sharing their environmental plans.

One new law, passed in October, limits the amount of time vehicles can idle in front of schools to one minute. Waiting drivers must turn off their engines. The law also raises the fine to $250 from $5 for violators. Every minute makes a difference: Cutting an engine for ten minutes can prevent one pound of carbon dioxide from being released into the air, according to the EDF.

The second law, first introduced in January, aims to improve the enforcement of these laws by allowing officials from the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Department of Sanitation to issue violations.

Quinn has previously been involved in increasing the number of clean-air taxis on NYC streets. She also played a major role in passing 2007’s Climate Protection Act, which aims to increase air quality by reducing greenhouse emissions from city government buildings.

A town-hall meeting on idling and tour bus traffic is scheduled for November 12 at 7:00 pm, at the Hudson Guild, 441 West 26^th Street.