Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose Now Sells GAMI 100 Octane Unleaded AvGas

November 4, 2024

The following public health announcement was posted on the Santa Clara County website on 10/31/2024. A link to the release is available here.

"The County's actions to remove lead from fuel at its facilities and provide an alternative as soon as possible began after a found elevated lead exposure in 13,000 children living near the airport."

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First in the Nation Reid-Hillview Airport Now Offers 100 Octane Unleaded Aviation Fuel for Retail Sale

The high-octane alternative to hazardous leaded gas is available and usable by all piston-powered aircraft

The new fuel was delivered to Reid-Hillview Airport on Oct. 28, 2024, and full-service truck-to-airplane fueling began on Oct. 30, 2024. With the addition of G100UL, the County now offers aircraft operators two choices in unleaded avgas: G100UL and UL94.

By Eric Kurhi, October 31, 2024

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. – Nearly three years after the County of Santa Clara implemented an unprecedented ban on the sale of toxic leaded aviation fuel at County airports in January 2022, County-run Reid-Hillview Airport set a new benchmark as the first in the nation to offer a lead-free alternative that works in all piston-powered general aviation aircraft: GAMI 100 Octane Unleaded Avgas.

The County began selling the fuel this week, signifying the start of what will be an inevitable national migration to the unleaded formula, as was done in the automotive sector decades ago. The County's actions to remove lead from fuel at its facilities and provide an alternative as soon as possible began after a County-commissioned study found elevated lead exposure in 13,000 children living near the airport.

"This is a victory for the children and families on the East Side who have been historically marginalized and whose voices, and legitimate health concerns, have been disregarded for too long," said Supervisor Cindy Chavez, whose district includes the East Side neighborhood of San José where the airport is located. "My deepest hope is that leaded aviation fuel is phased out of every general aviation airport in the U.S."

Santa Clara County replaced the typical leaded avgas, 100 Low Lead or 100LL, in January 2022 with Swift UL94, a 94-octane unleaded avgas. UL94 is FAA-certified for use in approximately 68 percent of the piston-powered aircraft of the type that use Reid-Hillview and San Martin airports. G100UL provides an alternative to 100LL for the general aviation fleets that could not utilize UL94, including high-performance aircraft.

"With the availability of this unleaded aviation fuel, there's clearly no reason to continue using a product that is the single greatest source of airborne lead pollution," said County Executive James R. Williams. "We know that there's no safe level of lead exposure, and we know that neighborhoods surrounding airports are usually low-income with large minority populations. Removing this health risk is a matter of environmental justice, and we hope to see other airports across the nation embrace this new alternative."

GAMI is offering an incentive for Bay Area pilots to purchase the required Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) by November 1, 2024. More information can be found at https://files.santaclaracounty.gov/exjcpb1466/2024-10/gami-incentive-notification-2024-10-29.pdf?VersionId=8FyhovzCzY7SKKMpRg6RRG3.GmFpEskt.

The new fuel was delivered to Reid-Hillview Airport on Monday, and full-service truck-to-airplane fueling began on Wednesday. With the addition of G100UL, the County now offers aircraft operators two choices in unleaded avgas: G100UL and UL94.

"Offering G100UL to our airport users has been years in the making," said Eric Peterson, Director of County Airports. "This fueling alternative positions RHV as the first airport in the nation to offer unleaded aviation fuel for the entire general aviation community and we are pretty excited about that."

The price for full-service fuel delivery is $6.99 per gallon. Reid-Hillview fueling hours are seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Magellan Diagnostics Fined $42 Million for Distributing Blood Lead Testing Devices That Gave False Low Readings:
Tens of Thousands of Children and Adults Affected

Miki Barnes
October 24, 2024

October 20-26, 2024 is International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, an excellent time to schedule blood lead level screening tests especially for those who live in proximity to airports that service piston-engine aircraft. The theme for this year's event - Bright Futures Begin Lead Free. Even small amounts of lead in a child's blood can cause irreversible harms to the developing brain. For this reason it is paramount that lead emissions are eliminated at the source by banning leaded aviation fuel once and for all.

Oregon law mandates that children on Medicaid/Oregon Health Plan have their blood lead levels checked at 12 and 24 months, or between 2 and 5 years if there is no record of a previous blood test. Unfortunately, Oregon, along with a number of other states, has long been out of compliance with this Medicaid requirement. According to a 2016 Washington County Public Health Department report, only 3% of children in this county have been tested for lead, even though the EPA has identified it as the most lead-polluted jurisdiction in the state.

But wait, it gets even worse. The few children and adults who were tested during a 4-year span between 2013 to 2017 may have received false low readings due to the use of flawed devices. The following excerpts are from a 10/10/2024 U.S. District of Massachusetts Attorney's Office press release:


Magellan Diagnostics Sentenced for Concealing Malfunction in Lead Testing Devices

Company failed to notify FDA about serious malfunction in lead testing devices that resulted in inaccurately low blood level results in children and adults

BOSTON – Magellan Diagnostics, Inc., a medical device company headquartered in Billerica, Mass., was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for criminal charges related to the concealment of a device malfunction that produced inaccurately low lead test results for tens of thousands of children and other patients.

Magellan has been ordered to pay a $21.8 million fine, $10.9 million in forfeiture and a minimum of $9.3 million to compensate patient victims. Magellan pleaded guilty to two counts of introducing a misbranded medical device into interstate commerce. Magellan was charged criminally on May 21, 2024

This company has admitted that it left lead blood level monitoring devices in pediatricians' offices that it knew were providing inaccurately low readings, putting thousands of kids at risk of not having their elevated lead levels accurately diagnosed. In addition to holding the company accountable, this criminal sentence requires the company to undertake an extensive effort to identify and compensate victims.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no safe level of lead in the blood. Lead exposure may cause irreversible lifelong physical and mental health problems. Young children and pregnant women are most vulnerable to lead exposure, especially those from low-income households and those who live in housing built before 1978 because those homes are more likely to contain lead-based paint and have fixtures containing lead.

As part of the criminal resolution, Magellan has agreed to compensate patients who were demonstrably harmed for the economic damages they suffered as a result of the malfunction in Magellan's blood lead testing devices. If you or a family member believe you received an inaccurate blood lead test result from a LeadCare device between 2013–2017, please complete the questionnaire located on the FBI's website. Information about the status of the case is located on the U.S. Attorney's Office website.

To read the release in full click here.


Below are the opening paragraphs of a 4/5/2023 CBS news report 3 Former Execs Arrested and Charged for Marketing Faulty Lead Testing Devices. As noted in the article, "If found guilty of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, the defendants could face up to 20 years in prison and a possible fine of up to $250,000, prosecutors said. The separate charges for conspiracy to defraud a U.S. agency and misbranded medical devices entail possible jail time of up to 5 and 3 years respectively in addition to fines."


Three former executives of a company that makes machines that test lead levels in humans deliberately concealed a problem with the devices that produced falsely low results for tens of thousands of children, federal prosecutors alleged on Wednesday.

The children, as well as pregnant people and others, faced serious health risks because of the inaccurate test results, prosecutors said.

Amy Winslow, Reba Daoust, and Mohammad Hossein Maleknia—all former executives at Magellan Diagnostics—were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud an agency of the U.S., and introduction of misbranded medical devices into interstate commerce with intent to defraud and mislead, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Boston.

To view the full report click here.


Conclusion

The largest facility source of airborne lead pollution in Washington County and the state of Oregon is the Hillsboro Airport. Users of this facility release lead emissions, 1200 lbs each year, during the landing and take-off phase of flight. Additional lead is released during ground-up procedures, repetitive training activities, and the cruise phase. As a result area residents are often subjected to multiple doses of lead on a daily basis.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), "Children who live near airports may be exposed to lead in air and soil from aviation gas used in piston engine aircrafts." The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that nationwide 16 million people, including three million children, live within a kilometer of a lead emitting airport. Children and adults residing, working, attending school, and recreating in proximity to these facilities, beneath a touch-and-go pattern or under practice training area further from the airport should contact their doctors to request a blood test.

It is incumbent on public officials and health care providers to insure that people on the Oregon Health Plan as well as those covered by private insurance are tested and provided access to treatment if recommended.

Nike's Private Jet Travels Generate Pollution

Miki Barnes
October 16, 2024

Image via Flight Club

 

"The pollution from Nike's jets adds up. Last year, they generated roughly the same amount of carbon dioxide as a passenger car driving 10.9 million miles...(Imagine driving a car around the equator 438 times.) It was roughly equal to the amount of carbon pollution that would be released by burning 4.7 million pounds of coal."

Over the past few months ProPublica in partnership with the Oregonian has published several articles on the adverse environmental impacts of Nike corporate and recreational jet flights. As noted in the article, "Traveling by private jet is far more polluting than flying commercial." A quote by Phillip Ansell, director of the Center for Sustainable Aviation at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explains that, "a fully loaded Gulfstream G650ER flight releases about 4.5 times as much carbon dioxide per passenger as a Boeing 737, the workhorse commercial airplane. If the Gulfstream is carrying only a single passenger, it's about 80 times as polluting, he said, because the private aircraft's weight and fuel consumption stay roughly the same."

Below are opening paragraphs from an 8/13/2024 ProPublica/Oregonian article authored by Rob Davis, Agnel Philips, and Alex Mierjeski of Propublica and Matthew Kish from the Oregonian, After Nike Leaders Promised Climate Action, Their Corporate Jets Kept Flying—and Polluting:


On dozens of occasions since 2020, a private Gulfstream jet belonging to Nike has touched down at Moffett Field, a federally owned airfield on the banks of San Francisco Bay.

The Silicon Valley site's most notable feature is a hulking building known as Hangar One, which in the 1930s housed a U.S. Navy airship and today is a conspicuous landmark along U.S. 101.

It also happens to sit about a 30-minute drive from one of Nike CEO John Donahoe's homes. He became the Oregon-based company's top executive in January 2020, bought a condo in Portland and registered as an Oregon voter. But he also maintained a home in the Bay Area community of Portola Valley. His previous job was leading a tech company in Santa Clara, and his wife worked at Stanford University until September.

Nike's jets landed at Moffett more than 100 times in the first three and a half years of Donahoe's tenure, flight-tracking records show. Landings at Moffett stopped in July 2023 but became more frequent at a nearby airport with a similar drive time to Portola Valley.

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To read the entire article which includes information on Nike jet flights to various locations including Cape Cod, MA, New York, Paris, San Jose, CA, Sun Valley, Idaho and the Caymen Islands click here.


Note: As of 10/14/2024, Elliott Hill assumed the role of Nike CEO and President. John Donohoe will, stay on in an advisory capacity through January 2025. A 9/19/2024 Nike Newsroom release with additional information on this transition is available here.

A 10/04/2024 follow-up article, We Reported on Nike's Extensive Use of Private Jets. The Company Just Made It Harder to Track Them by Rob Davis from ProPublica and Matthew Kish from the Oregonian/OregonLive, provided an update.


"Nike, the world's largest athletic apparel brand, has moved to hinder public scrutiny of its corporate jets after ProPublica and The Oregonian/OregonLive highlighted executives' travel destinations. In doing so, it became the latest participant in a cat-and-mouse game of jet owners seeking to cloak their movements around the globe.

A month after the story's publication, Nike's two Gulfstream G650ER jets were no longer visible on the flight tracking website FlightAware. Both were added to the Federal Aviation Administration's Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed list, consisting of planes that sites like FlightAware are not allowed to show. Placement on the list makes it harder—but not impossible—to see where the planes are going."

To read this article in full click here.


In a 7/11/2024 article Rob Davis from ProPublica co-published with Matthew Kish from the Oregonian/OregonLive, reported on Nike's decision to cut Sustainability Department positions by 30%. "The cuts to its sustainability staff of about 150 people were far deeper than Nike's 2% reduction companywide and 7% reduction at its Oregon headquarters."

To access the above referenced story Nike Pledged to Shrink Its Carbon Footprint. It Just Slashed the Staff Charged with Making That Happen click here.

Both Nike's corporate hangar and Phil Knight's personal hangar are located at the publicly subsidized Hillsboro Airport. According to a 7/8/2015 Complex article by Brendan Dunne, Go Inside Nike's Private Air Force Base, "The Nike Air Hangar 1, the company's corporate hangar, and the Ohcho Private Hangar, Knight's personal one, can hold up to five full-sized business jets combined...Amenities at the hangars include a gourmet kitchen, an exercise center, a space holding some pretty impressive Nike artifacts, and plenty of room for corporate meetings."

The Impact of PM2.5 and Lead Aviation Pollution on Declining Fertility Rates

"Our findings suggest that even minimal exposure to PM2.5 and lead from airplane emissions can have significant health impacts, evidenced by lower birth weights and reduced fertility rates. Combined with the growing body of evidence on the high cost of air pollution, this paper underscores the need for policies to mitigate aviation-related pollution." (Pg. 39)

Miki Barnes
October 7, 2024

Airlines, Pollution and Fertility by Xinming Du and Charles Taylor, first published on March 14, 2024, was updated in July 2024.

Most airport studies to date have focused on emission levels of aircraft in proximity to airports. This article, by contrast, looks at emissions released during the cruise phase of flight. As explained by the authors, aviation accounts for 4% of global warming when CO2, nitrogen oxides and water vapors are factored in. "Much of this pollution is emitted during the cruising phase, which accounts for over two-thirds of fuel consumption, as opposed to the takeoff and landing phases. But unlike takeoff and landing, which occur near population centers, cruising emissions are largely unregulated and unmonitored. We show that air pollution is persistently elevated among populations beneath overhead flight routes across the world." (Pg. 2-3)

The authors also point out that, "While some particulate matter from cruising aircraft will be disbursed broadly via atmospheric currents and weather conditions, on average, much will land in the vicinity directly beneath the flight path, especially due to wet deposition (i.e., binding to rain and falling to the ground). (Pg. 2 - footnote)

Excerpts from the paper appear below.


Abstract

This paper demonstrates a large but little-known negative externality of the aviation industry. Using a new instrument for air pollution from aircraft cruising, we show that pollution is higher beneath overhead flight routes in ways uncorrelated with local pollution. We combine this cross-sectional variation with the launch of new flight routes to establish several findings. First, aircraft cruising persistently elevates local PM2.5 by 1-3 μg/m3. Second, PM2.5 has adverse impacts on infant health via lower birth weights, including in 44 developing countries where data are scarce. Third, we leverage the fact that propeller planes still use leaded fuel to show that 1 ng/m3 ambient lead reduces fertility rates by 0.19%. Fourth, we generalize this in relation to the historical phase-out of leaded fuel in vehicles, which our analysis suggests added over 2 million people per year to the global population—making it among the most material public health interventions. We provide this global gridded airline data product for use in future research.

On the Global Decline in Fertility Rates

"Over the past 250 years since the Industrial Revolution, fertility, together with economic outputs, has increased rapidly worldwide. However, in the past 50 years, the global fertility rate has halved. In 2000, the world's fertility rate was 2.7 births per woman, comfortably above the "replacement rate" of 2.1, at which a population remains stable. Today it has decreased to 2.3 and continues to decline, with over half of the global population residing in regions with fertility rates below replacement level." (Pg. 7)

"Environmental factors such as pollution are increasingly recognized as potential contributors to fertility patterns." (Pg. 8)

PM2.5

We find that an increase in PM2.5 by 1μg/m3 (2.3% over the DHS sample mean) increases the incidence of low birth weight by one percentage point, which is 40% above the baseline incidence of 2.3%. We confirm that this effect is not driven by potential confounders such as noise pollution from overhead cruising aircraft. (Pg. 4)

"How big is the air pollution impact from the launch of a new airline route? Over each year between 2000 and 2014, a total of 5,497 new airline routes (origin-destination pairs) were established...The increase due to each new airline [route] is equivalent to 0.9% of the average PM2.5 levels in areas located beneath the flight path. Our findings underscore the substantial externality associated with airline operations." (Pg. 26)

"Our results demonstrate a robust link between overhead airline routes and local air pollution that extends beyond areas near airports." (Pg. 26)

Lead

Given that ambient lead eventually falls to the ground through deposition, we assess whether propeller planes also contribute to increased soil lead levels...our findings...suggest the number of leaded routes operated by propeller planes results in high soil lead levels. Specifically, for every increase of 1,000 in leaded route count, the soil lead collected by the surrounding laboratory rises by 473.9 wt%. The consistency between air and soil results concludes that emissions from propeller planes have a substantial and statistically significant impact on environmental lead levels. (Pg. 30)

...we find female respondents are less likely to give birth in areas with a high intensity of propeller planes...an increase in leaded route intensity from 0 to 1 causes a 0.07 decrease in the probability of giving birth. (Pg. 30)

We also study the fertility response in the US... Leaded airline routes are associated with decreased birth rates, while unleaded routes show no effect. Specifically, a 1-unit increase in propeller airline intensity leads to a decline in the birth rate by 2.2 percentage points, representing a 3.2% decrease relative to the mean birth rate.

In terms of fertility, the Flint water crisis, which was characterized by lead exposure, reduced the number of births by 7.5 per 1,000 women, constituting 12% of the average fertility rate (Grossman and Slusky, 2019). The elimination of lead from gasoline has been linked to increased fertility in the US: the observed reduction in airborne lead corresponded with four additional births per 1,000 women, accounting for 6% of the mean fertility rate (Clay et al., 2021). Furthermore, lead exposure affects birth outcomes. The Flint water crisis is associated with a reduction in birth weights by 32 to 49 grams (Abouk and Adams, 2018; Wang et al., 2021). Airborne lead pollution, leading to the relocation of lead battery recycling from the US to Mexico, resulted in a 24-gram decrease in birth weight for infants born within two miles of Mexican recycling plants (Tanaka et al., 2022). (Pg. 9-10)

Our analysis focuses on the detect rate of high blood lead, defined as the number or proportion of cases with confirmed blood lead levels exceeding 10μg/dL. (Pg. 13)

To access the entire article click here.


Oregon's Declining Birthrate

In keeping with global trends, Oregon's fertility rates are also on the decline.

According to a 5/24/2024 Oregon/Live article by Mike Rogaway, Oregon's Birth Rate Is Among Nation's Lowest, and It Keeps Falling, "Already deaths outnumber births in Oregon."

A 10/16/2023 Axios Portland article, How Oregon's Falling Birth Rate Could Shape Its Future, provides additional detail.

    • The state's birth rate is now below replacement level – meaning Oregon's economy is "fully reliant upon migration for any population growth," according to Josh Lerner, an economist with the Office of Economic Analysis...
    • By the numbers: Since 2007, the number of births has fallen from 13.3 per 1,000 residents to 9.3 in 2022, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
    • That's a nearly 30% decline overall and it mirrors a national trend as well as a global one.
    • Oregon has the 5th lowest birth rate nationwide.

Population data specific to Hillsboro, the 5th largest city in Oregon, reveals an increase in population from 92,000 in 2010 to its peak population year of 108,743 in 2018. By 2024 the population count had declined to 107,730 compared to 6 years ago. Part of the decline in recent years is attributed to the pandemic but a review of the numbers indicates the drop off in birth rates began well before Covid.

Hillsboro Airport (HIO), the largest general aviation airport in Oregon, is located in Hillsboro. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), out of 20,000 airports nationwide, HIO ranks 8th in lead pollution. HIO releases 0.6 tons of lead into the air each year during the landing and take-off phase of flight. Additional lead, not accounted for in the EPA National Emissions Inventory, is emitted during ground run-up procedures and the cruise phase. The EPA also ranks HIO as one of the top facility sources of PM2.5 in Washington County.

There are two primary zip codes in Hillsboro: 97123 and 97124. Both are subjected to heavy levels of aviation activity and both experienced a 16% decline in number of births during a 13 year period between 2010 and 2022. During this same timeframe the population in Hillsboro increased by more than 15,000.

HIO is located in 97124. In 2010 the birth count in this zip code was 733. By 2022 that number had dropped to 617.

The 97123 zip code, located to the south of HIO, is subjected to heavy aviation activity produced by flight students and private pilots. In addition, Twin Oaks Airport, the second largest facility source of lead pollution in Washington County, is located here. In this zip code birth count dropped from 679 in 2010 to 569 in 2022.

Communities bordering Hillsboro including Forest Grove, Cornelius, and Banks that are frequently subjected to repetitive flight training and recreational flying also experienced declines in birth counts between 2010 and 2022.

For additional information on Oregon zip code data click here.

U.S. Declining Fertility Rates

The illustration below is from a 12/5/2022 Pew Charitable Trust article, The Long-Term Decline in Fertility–and What It Means for State Budgets.

 

Nationwide, 20,000 airports serve the 177,000 piston-engine aircraft that use leaded aviation fuel. It is worth noting that seventy-seven of the top 100 lead polluting airports in the U.S. are located in the 17 states that have experienced the greatest decline in fertility rates.

Concluding Remarks

The Airlines, Pollution and Fertility study adds to the growing body of evidence attesting to the link between aviation emissions and adverse health impacts. It is imperative that public officials, health experts, and politicians take immediate steps to protect current and future generations from these toxic pollutants.

Statewide North Carolina Study Finds Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Children Living Near Airports

Miki Barnes
September 21, 2024

On 8/9/2024 an article entitled Association between Residential Distance to Airport and Blood Lead Levels in Children under 6 Living in North Carolina, 1992–2015 was published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal. This research builds on an earlier study by Marie Lynn Miranda, Rebecca Anthopolos, and Douglas Hastings published in June of 2011. This is the fifth study to find elevated blood lead levels in children living in proximity to airports where piston-engine aircraft continue to use leaded fuel.

The study, which considered the blood lead levels of 943,602 children living within 10 kilometers [6.21 miles] of airports across 100 North Carolina counties, found a "significant adverse effect of avgas use on children's BLLs [Blood Lead Levels]..."

The Introduction to the article appears below.

Even with progress in lead poisoning prevention, research has consistently shown there is no safe blood lead level (BLL) for children. Behavioral and cognitive deficits are associated with lead exposure, even at low levels. Unfortunately, many piston-engine aircraft are still fueled by leaded aviation gas (avgas).

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that ∼5.2 million people live within 500m of an airport where avgas is used. Our past research in six North Carolina (NC) counties indicates that children living within 500m of airports where avgas is used have ∼4% higher BLLs than children who lived beyond 2,000m (reference group); the association between avgas and children's BLLs was still detectable at 1,000m. Building on this work, this study investigates the relationship between avgas and BLLs in children across all 100 NC counties.

In October 2023, the EPA finalized an endangerment finding as the first step in using its authority to regulate the use of avgas. EPA is now required by the Clean Air Act to propose and promulgate regulatory standards for lead emissions from certain aircraft engines. Moreover, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must propose avgas that will control or eliminate lead emissions. In this paper, we provide evidence that is relevant to the EPA's future regulatory proposals.

To access the entire article click here.



Previous Airport Studies on the Effects of Leaded Avgas on Children's Blood Lead Levels

The new statewide North Carolina study was preceded by four significant studies of children's blood lead levels. The earlier studies are summarized here, with links to the full articles for readers who would like more details.

Reid-Hillview Airport Lead Study (2021)

An 8-3-2021 lead study was commissioned by Santa Clara County in response to concerns about the toxic lead emissions generated by aviation activity at the Reid-Hillview Airport (RHV). The study included an analysis of data from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2020 of over 17,000 blood lead level samplings of children residing within one and a half miles of the airport at the time the blood draws were taken. The researchers found that "Under periods of high piston-engine aircraft traffic, children proximate to Reid-Hillview airport experience an increase in BLLs [blood lead levels] in excess of what the children of Flint experienced during the FWC [Flint Water Crisis]." The study also revealed that the volume of piston-engine air traffic and the amount of leaded fuel sold on a monthly basis to RHV fixed based operators also contributed to increased blood lead levels.

In the words of Dr. Sammy Zahran, a leading researcher on the study, "The Flint water crisis from start to finish unfolded in less than a year and a half. By contrast at Reid-Hillview, the release of lead into the lived environment is a continuous, non-stop, daily unabated flow of an undeniably harmful toxicant. I remind you that we are talking about more than a thousand pounds of lead released annually on nearby populations."

Michigan Airport Lead Study (2017)

The Effect of Leaded Aviation Gasoline on Blood Lead in Children, published in 2017, involved over 1 million children and 448 airports in Michigan. Dr. Sammy Zahran et al. found that "child BLLs: 1) increased dose-responsively in proximity to airports, 2) declined measurably among children sampled in the months after the tragic events of 9-11, resulting from an exogenous reduction in PEA [piston-engine aircraft] traffic, 3) increased dose-responsively in the flow of piston-engine aircraft traffic across a subset of airports, 4) increased in the percent of prevailing wind days drifting in the direction of a child's residence and 5) behave intuitively and significantly when considering two-way and three-way interactions of our main treatment variables."

As stated in the report, "The consequences of lead exposure in childhood are lasting. Neural-imaging studies find that adults exposed to lead as children have reduced gray matter in regions of the brain known to govern executive judgment, impulsivity and mood regulation... Economists have convincingly linked these intellectual and socio-emotional traits of judgment and impulsivity to long-term life outcomes... persons exposed to lead in early life experience ‘an unfolding series of adverse behavioral outcomes: behavior problems as a child, pregnancy and aggression as a teen, and criminal behavior as a young adult.'"

North Carolina Airport Lead Study (2011)

A Geospatial Analysis on the Effects of Aviation Gasoline on Childhood Blood Lead Levels, by Marie Miranda et al, was published in October of 2011. This study involved the observation of 125,000 blood lead levels (BLLs) in 6 North Carolina counties in proximity to the 66 airports located in these jurisdictions. According to the authors of the study, "Our results suggest that children living within 500 m of an airport at which planes use leaded avgas have higher blood lead levels than other children. This apparent effect of avgas on blood lead levels was evident also among children living within 1,000 m of airports. The estimated effect on blood lead levels exhibited a monotonically decreasing dose–response pattern, with the largest impact on children living within 500 m." In their conclusion they stated, "Our analysis indicates that living within 1,000 m of an airport where avgas is used may have a significant effect on blood lead levels in children."

Colorado Airport Lead Study (2024)

The Association Between Childhood Blood Lead Levels and Proximity to Airports in Colorado published by Springer Link on May 22, 2024, examined blood lead levels in children age 18 years and younger over a 10-year period from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2020, in relation to 12 unidentified Colorado airports. When comparing their findings to some of the earlier studies discussed above, the researchers pointed out that, "One notable difference between the present study and the three previously published studies is Colorado's relatively smaller sample size of blood lead tests near airports. Low blood lead testing rates, especially in rural areas, are Colorado's most significant challenge to lead poisoning prevention."

Despite the smaller sample size and other limitations discussed in the study, it is significant that researchers found a correlation between blood lead levels and proximity to airports. The report went on to recommend an increase in blood lead testing, "Lowering exposure to lead lowers the risk of health effects, and new research emphasizes the danger of even low levels of exposure. Testing is critical not only to protect children who might have lead exposure but also because it provides valuable public health data needed to investigate less well-studied exposure pathways and how they affect BLLs."

The Time is Now: Ban Leaded Aviation Fuel Without Further Delay

"The EPA already has the authority and ability to mandate the elimination of lead in avgas. It's not going to wait indefinitely to use it."
– Russ Niles, AVweb

Miki Barnes
September 3, 2024

While the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) airport owners, fuel developers and distributors dither, people across this country continue to be doused with multiple doses of aviation generated lead on a daily basis. As explained in a 2009 Reviews on Environmental Health abstract (Vol. 24, No.1) Neurotoxic Effects and Biomarkers of Lead Exposure:

"Lead, a systemic toxicant affecting virtually every organ system, primarily affects the central nervous system, particularly the developing brain. Consequently, children are at a greater risk than adults of suffering from the neurotoxic effects of lead...Within the brain, lead-induced damage in the prefrontal cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum can lead to a variety of neurological disorders, such as brain damage, mental retardation, behavioral problems, nerve damage, and possibly Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia."

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the EPA and numerous other health agencies and organizations agree, there is no safe level of lead in a person's blood. Yet despite the mountains of evidence attesting to the devastating effects of this pollutant, the U.S. remains the biggest leaded fuel polluter on the entire planet.

Unleaded Aviation Fuel Now Commercially Available

In February of 2022, the FAA announced the Eliminate Leaded Aviation Gasoline Emissions (EAGLE) initiative with the stated intent of developing a drop-in fleet-wide replacement for leaded avgas. One of their goals was to "Identify at least one unleaded fuel acceptable for safe General Aviation fleet use."

This has now been accomplished. After more than a decade of research and testing by General Aviation Manufacturing Inc., G100UL was approved in September of 2022 for use in all spark ignition, piston-engine aircraft. As pointed out in an 8/23/2024 AVweb article, Unleaded Fuel Process Needs a Reboot by Russ Niles,

The FAA's approval of G100UL includes the following statement:

"The FAA has, in fact, made a determination that this Specification and Standard for a High Octane Unleaded Aviation Gasoline provides not only an equivalent, but, in fact, an enhanced level of quality control of the properties and performance of the aviation gasoline produced under this specification and distributed throughout the supply chain, as compared to the traditional governmental, military, or industry voluntary consensus-based standards (including ASTM) which have previously defined and controlled the production and distribution of aviation gasolines use for spark ignition piston engines."

A 4/10/2024 press release issued by Vitol Aviation based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, announced that it has produced over one million gallons of G100UL for commercial use. Yet the FAA and EAGLE continue to block distribution.

FAA EAGLE Conflicts of Interest Run Rampant

In the AVweb article cited above, the author states that eliminating the conflicts of interest among members of the EAGLE initiative "would effectively require the resignation or firing of virtually everyone there."

The following is a list of the industry partners in this undertaking. These groups and their members, with the support of the FAA, are largely responsible for pumping a million pounds of lead into the atmosphere every single year. According to the EPA, seventy percent of all airborne lead pollution in the U.S. is caused by general aviation aircraft.

    • Airport Owner and Pilots Association (AOPA)
    • National Air Transportation Association (NATA)
    • Helicopter Association International (HAI)
    • American Petroleum Institute (API)
    • National Business Aviation Association (NBAA)
    • General Aviation and Manufacturers Association (GAMA)
    • Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA)
    • American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE)

EAGLE is an example of the convoluted organizational dynamic that arises when a captive agency, in this case the FAA, is placed in charge of finding an alternative to leaded aviation fuel. By partnering with self-serving aviation lobbyists and big oil representatives, many of whom professionally and/or personally benefit from the sale of leaded fuel, the process was doomed from the outset. The exclusion of medical professionals, environmental organizations, and negatively impacted community groups in the decision-making process also contributes to the current sorry state of affairs.

EAGLE Fails to Insure Distribution of Unleaded Fuel

Another EAGLE goal was to "Facilitate the increased production, distribution and greater use of unleaded replacement fuels." Yet despite the availability of G100UL, EAGLE members are putting obstacles in the path of bringing this product to market. In fact, truckers and distributors are refusing to ship it - an egregious example of how the publicly funded FAA has abrogated its responsibilities in favor of promoting the self-serving agendas of profit-driven airport owners, aviation businesses and corporations.

Niles also speaks to the ineffectiveness, conflict and acrimony inherent within the FAA/Industry EAGLE partnership. EAGLE started with four fuel developers - two were part of the Piston Engine Fuels Initiative (PAFI), initially established in 2014 with the promise that an unleaded aviation fuel would be available by 2018, a goal that never came to fruition.

The PAFI approach was reconstituted in 2022 through the EAGLE program but the outcome has been disappointing.

Phillips/Afton

Phillips/Afton, one of the two fuel developers chosen by the FAA to formulate an unleaded alternative through the PAFI process, suspended their efforts in January of 2024 after encountering engine failure during the testing phase. In truth, neither company had much incentive to develop an alternative as both have long profited from selling leaded fuel.

According to a 3/23/2023 Aviation Consumer Staff Report, "Phillips is possibly the largest producer of 100LL. Afton Chemical is a corporate sister company to Ethyl Corporation, which currently imports and distributes tetraethyl lead (TEL). We wonder how motivated they are to find a replacement for 100LL."

Per the Phillips 66 website, "Phillips 66 is among the largest refiners in the United States and a major contract jet and avgas fuel supplier to private, commercial, and military aviation." In other words, Phillips turns a hefty profit from selling leaded avgas and may stand to lose revenue if another fuel developer, such as GAMI or Swift, brings an unleaded alternative to market.

Then there's the Afton/Ethyl connection. A century ago, the Ethyl Corp was founded by Charles Kettering in partnership with Thomas Midgley, the man who created tetraethyl lead. Though both these men knew lead was toxic, they chose to place profits over concerns for public health and the environment.

To access a 25 minute video entitled The Man Who Accidentally Caused the Death of Millions of People, click here.

"Doctors and public health officials from MIT, Harvard, and the U.S. health service wrote to Midgely and warned them about producing tetraethyl lead. They called lead a creeping and malicious poison and a serious menace to public health. Their concerns were dismissed." (See 12:00 minute mark in video)

Lyondell/VP Racing

The progress of the other PAFI developer, Lyondell/VP Racing, was discussed in a 7/27/2024 Aviation Week article Avgas Developer: Drop-In Fuel For 100LL Not Possible,

"LyondellBasel, a multinational chemical company, partnered with San Antonio-based VP Racing Fuels in 2018 to develop the fuel in response to an FAA call for new unleaded fuel offerers. Earlier fuel candidates from other companies had failed to meet PAFI's criteria...Over the course of its development, the team learned that replacing 100 Low Lead (100LL) with a new high-octane unleaded fuel that would work in every engine and aircraft without making changes—PAFI's original objective—is not possible..."

George Braly, co-founder of GAMI, in an 8/27/2024 AvWeb article, sums it up this way, "The taxpayers have spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on the failed UL AvGas/PAFI/EAGLE programs over the last 20 years. The taxpayers have absolutely ZERO to show for that expenditure."

Indeed a reasonable person might suspect that the entire FAA, PAFI, EAGLE boondoggle was intentionally created to funnel money into the hands of petroleum companies, refineries, and aviation businesses that have long profited from pumping one million pounds of lead into the environment every single year.

Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for Unleaded Fuel Alternative

Instead of the PAFI path, GAMI and Swift pursued a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) approval process.

Swift currently sells an FAA approved unleaded fuel, UL94, that can be used in roughly two-thirds of the current fleet of piston-engine aircraft. It is sold at a limited number of airports throughout the U.S. To access a map showing where the fuel is available click here. Swift is also testing a higher octane unleaded fuel, 100R, that can be used fleet wide.

To summarize, Phillips/Afton is no longer working on developing an unleaded fuel. Lyondell/VP Racing recently announced that it is impossible to produce a fleetwide drop-in replacement and Swift remains in the testing phase.

To date, GAMI is the only fuel developer that has an FAA approved drop-in fuel that is commercially available to airport sponsors and distributors.

Words of Caution

Though eliminating leaded avgas once and for all is a step in the right direction, unleaded aviation fuel is not a panacea. Even if the lead poisoning were to end immediately, aviation noise and other toxins in fossil fuel burning aircraft would continue to pollute and degrade livability in communities across this country. In the words of AVweb's Russ Niles, "Gasoline is a horribly toxic stew of harmful substances and you really should wear rubber gloves when you do your preflight fuel check." He also states that GAMI's G100UL "relies on some pretty nasty chemicals to achieve the high level of performance it seems to have achieved, but I doubt the other two contestants are any less noxious."

What are these "nasty chemicals" and what is their impact on human health, wildlife, the environment and biodiversity? Addressing the broader impact of aviation in terms of global warming, ozone depletion, noise impacts, PM2.5, lead emissions, benzenes, hydrocarbons, and other pollutants released by the recreational, private and student pilots who are poisoning our air, will ultimately require a drastic reduction in aviation activity.

Lead Pollution in Portland Neighborhoods

Miki Barnes
August 14, 2024

"... we want to be conscious of what we're putting into the environment because it may be with us for a long time. We see that with the leaded gasoline. Any metals, like lead, that we're putting into the environment, the amount that's going to be there is also cumulative. So, if you're just putting a little in from one source and a little in from another, that's adding up."

–Alyssa Shiel Associate Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, Lead Author on the Portland Lead Moss Study

A 7/23/2024 Oregon State University Newsroom release, Study of Urban Moss Raises Concerns About Lead Levels in Older Portland Neighborhoods, explained that "moss growing on trees in urban areas is an effective air monitoring system because it has a wide surface area to collect contaminants that settle out of the air around it."

For the purposes of the study, urban moss samples gathered in Portland in 2013 were compared to samples obtained in 2017 from nearby rural locations. The lead author Alyssa Shiel and co-authors Sarah Jovan, and Christina Murphy, found that "Lead levels in moss are as much as 600 times higher in older Portland neighborhoods where lead-sheathed telecommunications cables were once used compared to lead levels in nearby rural areas..." In addition, "The findings showed nearly 12 times higher lead levels in urban Portland than found in rural areas nearby. Chemical analysis indicates that much of the lead in the environment is due to leaded gasoline, which continues to persist in the environment nearly three decades after it was banned in the United States."

Per Shiel, "The lead introduced into the environment by leaded gas just hasn't gone away. We have to live with it."

The study, Lead-Sheathed Telecom Cables and Historic Leaded Gasoline Emissions Substantially Raise Environmental Lead Levels in Portland, Oregon, published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment found "leaded gasoline to be a pervasive and persistent lead source, decades after the complete phase out of leaded gasoline use by on-road vehicles. The highest lead levels, up to 590× the rural background, are found in older residential neighborhoods where relic lead-sheathed telecommunication cables were identified. Leaching of lead from these cables is thought to be responsible for elevated lead in older residential neighborhoods in cities across the country."

The study also found that "The lead isotopic compositions of moss from Portland sites (excluding those with lead cables) are consistent with that of leaded gasoline used in Portland (this study) and California...This suggests that the resuspension of soil and dust contaminated with lead from the historical use of leaded gasoline is the dominant lead source for most Portland mosses."

The study described lead as "a highly toxic metal associated with adverse health effects including hypertension and cardiovascular disease, renal disease, neurodegenerative diseases like ALS, and decreased neurobehavioral-cognitive function. Children are especially vulnerable as even low levels of lead in blood can adversely impact neurodevelopment and cause lower IQ, poorer academic achievement, cognitive deficits, behavioral problems, and delayed puberty. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention, no exposure limits are widely agreed upon as safe. Consequently, there is significant interest in identifying sources of lead pollution so that health risks can be mitigated."

To access a 7/23/2024 Oregon Public Broadcasting Think Out Loud interview OSU Study Raises Concerns About Elevated Lead Levels from Old Telephone Cables with Alyssa Shiel click here.

Oregon Aviation Watch applauds the OSU study and appreciates the well-deserved media attention it has received. However, it is important to recognize that pollution from leaded gasoline is not only historical. It continues to be emitted on a daily basis by general aviation aircraft that still burn leaded gasoline. The screenshots included in this posting are examples of how lead is emitted into the skies over Portland every single day and night.

Aviation Lead Emissions Routinely Deposited Over Portland

Please take the time to view the flight tracks in this section as they show how lead is released and distributed over Portland and the surrounding area on a daily basis. The screenshots included in this posting were gathered during a two-week period between 7/30/2024 and 8/13/2024. They represent but a small sampling of the aircraft that are continuing to emit lead over the greater Portland Metropolitan area.

Lead in automotive fuel was banned more than 25 years ago. However, piston-engine aircraft continue to emit lead over Portland and the surrounding community. Ironically, the aircraft delivering the most concentrated lead applications are registered to the City of Portland, the Portland Police Bureau, Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. Flight students and private pilots also contribute to the lead and pollution footprint.

Background on Aviation Lead Pollution

In the U.S. there are approximately 170,000 piston-engine aircraft still using leaded avgas. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these aircraft are responsible for 70% of all airborne lead emissions in the U.S. In Oregon, the percentage of lead released by mobile aircraft is even higher, 87%, compared to all other sectors.

Piston-engine aircraft which includes smaller airplanes and helicopters used for flight training, recreational flying, private pilots and police surveillance, release approximately one million pounds, close to 500 tons, of lead into the atmosphere every single year. Commercial and private jets by contrast, use a kerosene-based fuel that does not contain lead.

City of Portland Surveillance Aircraft - N425EJ

The flight track below, generated by a single aircraft, N425EJ, had been in the air, releasing lead, noise, and other pollutants, for more than 3 hours when the screenshot below was captured on Sunday, 8/11/2024 ay 7:10 PM. While in flight, it circled repeatedly over various neighborhoods in North, NE, and SE Portland.

 

N425EJ had been engaging in aerial surveillance over Portland and Clackamas County for more than 3 hours when the screenshot below was captured on Sunday, 08/04/2024 at 8:30 PM.

 

This next screenshot is a close-up of the flight track discussed above. It shows N425EJ circling over the Montavilla, Parkrose, Hazelwood, Madison and surrounding communities approximately 30 times during a one-to-two-hour period all the while releasing lead, noise and other toxins into the environment. In addition, it flew multiple times over neighborhoods in Hawthorne, Ladd's Edition, Buckman and other SE locations.

 

The next screenshot of N425EJ was captured at 12:37 PM on Sunday, 8/4/2024. The aircraft departed from PDX on 8/03/2024 at 10:32 PM. It had been emitting lead, noise and other toxins over parts of NE and SE Portland for more than 2 hours at the time this photo was taken.

 

The screenshot below was captured on Friday, 8/2/2024 at 9:42 PM. N425EJ had been releasing lead, noise, and other pollutants over North, NE and SE Portland for more than 3 hours at the time this photo was taken.

 

The screenshot below shows N425EJ, circling over older Portland neighborhoods in North, Northeast, and Southeast Portland neighborhoods. It had been releasing lead, noise and other pollutants into the air for more than 2 hours when this screenshot was captured at 1:12 AM on Saturday, 8/03/2024.

 

Portland Police Bureau Surveillance Aircraft - N2163J

The Portland Police Bureau aerial surveillance flight shown below had been emitting lead over Portland neighborhoods for 3-4 hours when this screenshot was captured at 10:40 PM on Tuesday, 8/14/2024. The flight track included 40 revolutions over Montavilla and Madison neighborhoods and another 40 over neighborhoods around the Centennial Community Association in outer SE Portland.

 

This screenshot below, produced by N2163J, registered to the Portland Police Bureau. was captured on Wednesday, 8/7/2024 at 4:45 PM after the aircraft had spent hours releasing lead, noise and other toxins over numerous Portland neighborhoods as well as parts of Clackamas County.

 

Below is a detail from the above 8/7/2024 screenshot showing the aircraft flying multiple times over Cully, Irvington, Laurelhurst, Rockwood, Montavilla, Mt. Tabor, and surrounding neighborhoods.

 

The flight track below was also produced by N2163J. It was captured on Tuesday 8/6/2024 at 10:58 PM after the aircraft had spent hours releasing lead, noise and other toxins while circling over North, NE and SE Portland neighborhoods.

 

The screenshot below, produced by N2163J was captured at 8:18 PM on 7/30/2024. The image shows that the aircraft circled and looped repetitively over various neighborhoods throughout the Portland area.

 

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Surveillance Aircraft (N931EM)

This Clackamas County Sheriff's Office aircraft, N931EM, had been repetitively circling over SE Portland and parts of Clackamas County for several hours when this screenshot was captured on Thursday, 8/8/2024 at 9:16 PM.

 

In this next screenshot, N931EM had been circling repetitively over SE Portland and various Clackamas County locations for close to 3 hours when this image was captured on Saturday, 8/3/2024 at 11:47 PM.

 

Multnomah County Sheriff's Office – N910TW

This flight track over SE Portland, Gresham, Fairview, Troutdale, Wood Village and other neighborhoods was produced by an aircraft registered to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. The aircraft had been in the air for several hours when this screenshot was captured.

 

This Multnomah County Police Bureau Aircraft had circled multiple Portland neighborhoods for several hours when the screenshot below was captured on 8/3/2024 around 11:00 PM.

 

Closing Remarks

It's important to bear in mind that other piston engine aircraft including student, private, and recreational pilots are adding to the lead pollution burden borne by area residents. In addition, aviation noise is known to have adverse impacts on human health as do the PM2.5, benzene, and other carcinogenic toxins released by this mode of fossil fuel burning aircraft.

Specific to lead, it may be possible to differentiate between legacy lead from automotive fuel vs leaded aviation fuel emissions. To access a 9/11/2020 article in the Journal of Atmospheric Research by Jack Griffith, Electron Microscopic Characterization of Exhaust Particles Containing Lead Dibromide Beads Expelled from Aircraft Burning Leaded Gasoline, click here. The article's abstract states that lead particles emitted by aircraft are significantly smaller than those emitted by automobiles, and so are more readily absorbed by the human body: "Of significant concern, the smaller aircraft particles could penetrate mucosal barriers in the lung and be readily taken up by epithelial cells."

As stated in the introduction to the article, "studies have suggested that the reduction in IQ levels in children exposed to lead from aviation gasoline emissions may constitute a 1 billion dollar a year economic loss in the US" (Wolfe et al., 2016; Zahran et al., 2017).

Lead is a pernicious neurotoxin which is known to cause potentially irreversible damage. For this reason immediate steps need to be taken to drastically reduce piston-engine air traffic over the greater Portland Metro area.

Petition Opposes Expansion at the Aurora Airport

August 5, 2024

The Aurora Airport (KUAO), owned and operated by the State of Oregon, is located midway between two commercial airports that already have runways in place that can accommodate business and corporate jets. Both have experienced a significant drop in operations in recent years. The operational count at the 3,300 acre Portland International Airport, (PDX), 22 miles north of KUAO, peaked in 1998 at around 328,000 annual landings and take-offs. During the ensuing 25 years that number declined by more than 40 percent. In 2023, PDX logged 190,150 annual operations, 4,000 fewer than in 1975. (Sources: Portland International Airport Noise Abatement Plan, Volume 2: Appendices. August 1996. Table 11. Pg. 46 and Port of Portland Statistics webpage)

Along a similar vein, a review of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Terminal Area Forecast data on McNary Field (KSLE), located in Salem 23 miles south of KUAO, reveals that McNary logged 50% fewer operations in 2022 than it did in 2007. What these numbers indicate is that regionally there is an excess of capacity at Oregon's airports, thereby refuting the argument that additional capacity at KUAO is required. Even if the need were there, no community should be subjected to noisy, toxic aircraft foisted upon them without a democratic vote of the people.

The Hillsboro Airport, the largest general aviation airport in Oregon, is located 19 miles from KUAO. This facility is one of the biggest polluters in Washington County. Many residents of this jurisdiction are routinely doused with noise, lead, and other pollutants by student and private pilots flying in and out of HIO. Like KUAO, it caters to a self entitled few at the expense of the greater good. Increasing the number of gas-guzzling private jets would only add to the environmental degradation perpetrated by this airport.

According to a 2/14/2024 Oregon Public Broadcasting News report, "From 2017 to 2022, Oregon lost 4%...over 660,000 acres of farmland despite land use laws that restrict development unrelated to agriculture on land zoned for farming." Source: Oregon Continues to Lose Farmland, Some Advocates Say That Raises Red Flags.

There is no demonstrated need to sacrifice prime farmland to the special interests of a handful of private and corporate jet owners. Moreover, it is environmentally irresponsible and morally indefensible for the State of Oregon and the FAA to invest public money into promoting and funding this deceptive, heavy-handed master planning process.

Oregon Aviation Watch urges readers to sign this petition.


Friends of French Prairie Advances People's Petition Opposing Expansion of the Aurora State Airport

August 1, 2024

AURORA, OR: Today the nonprofit land-use conservation organization Friends of French Prairie announces the establishment of a people's petition opposed to the planned expansion of the Aurora State Airport. Ben Williams, President of Friends of French Prairie, said that "The Federal Aviation Administration and Oregon Department of Aviation (ODA) have boxed-in the public with plans to expand the airport onto prime farmland and take private property, seek to encourage more operations by larger and heavier aircraft, and ignore current environmental, transportation and safety concerns."

"Since neither federal nor state aviation agencies appear to take seriously the concerns of local-area residents, businesses and cities, Friends of French Prairie is advancing a people's petition to demonstrate the massive local opposition to expansion of the Aurora State Airport that exists," said Williams. The petition is addressed to the primary federal and state elected officials who represent the airport area, including Senators Wyden and Merkley, Congresswoman Salinas and Governor Kotek.

The Aurora State Airport is undergoing a convoluted, four-year-long master-planning process that demonstrates a pre-determined outcome favoring commercial interests and airport developers by ignoring key data that demonstrates declining operations by larger aircraft and falsifying projected future operations. It includes a Planning Advisory Committee that was informed that they would be a sounding board but would make no recommendations and that ODA staff would "be the final decision-making authority." ODA has also made public participation in the master plan process difficult by requiring pre-registration to attend public meetings, running out of public-comment forms at the one open-house event, and stacking the planning advisory committee with airport expansion interests seeking tax-payer subsidies while ignoring suggestions and concerns raised by those who represent local jurisdictions, community members and land-use advocates.

The petition, available online by clicking here, cites a number of concerns ignored by the pending Aurora State Airport master plan, including:

  • Health concerns from leaded aviation fuel used by aircraft.
  • Diminished quality-of-life with increasing numbers of low-flying and loud aircraft due to a non-mandatory voluntary noise-abatement plan that many aircraft operators ignore.
  • Reduced residential real-estate property values due to aircraft operations at the airport.
  • Increased generation of greenhouse-gas carbon emissions contrary to federal and state climate goals.
  • Environmental damage to significant natural resources, including contaminated stormwater run-off directly impacting endangered salmon-bearing waterways
  • Public-safety concerns by an airport that the FAA states is violating aviation safety standards, endangering thousands of local residents for the benefit of a few select special interests.
  • Proposed massive, multi-million dollar public tax-payer subsidies to commercial interests at airport for government to condemn/acquire adjacent private properties and move Wilsonville-Hubbard State Highway 551 or airport's air traffic control tower for expanded airport.
  • Detrimental impacts to the important agricultural farming sector of our economy by artificially inflating farmland values due to land speculation.
  • Poor public precedent to reward land speculators who seek to flip farmland into airport use located outside of an urban growth boundary.
  • Inadequate public facilities for an urbanized airport use in a rural area without proper aircraft fire-fighting capacity, water treatment, sanitary sewer and stormwater drainage, and accessible only by narrow county roads without shoulders or sidewalks or public-transit service.
  • Lack of any substantial study of existing airport environmental conditions, including appropriate public utilities, Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake impacts, and the presence of EPA-identified PFAS "forever chemicals" on site.
  • Negative impacts to other regional airports, including Salem, McMinnville, Hillsboro, Portland and Troutdale, all of which are located in cities in compliance with Oregon's land-use laws and are operating substantially below capacity.

With five airports in the region having runways over 5,000 feet long that receive urban services from cities and are operating below capacity with room to grow without displacing agricultural land, and an airport master plan process with insufficient alternatives analysis, there is no demonstrable need to expand the Aurora State Airport. However, FAA has informed ODA that they may not consider alternatives to keep the Aurora Airport as it is, but must only consider alternatives to expand the airport.

In addition to primarily benefitting private interests, the proposed Aurora State Airport expansion appears to be a self-serving exercise by the Oregon Department of Aviation, as the agency's primary source of revenue is taxes on the sale of aviation fuel. The more larger aircraft that the Department of Aviation can attract to the airport, the more money that the agency can generate, despite negative impacts to farmers, residents, the environment and climate-change goals.

The petition requests intervention by the federal and state elected officials to require the federal and state aviation agencies to select an Aurora State Airport Master Plan alternative that keeps the airport as it is within its current footprint without unwarranted expansion.

Founded in 2006, Friends of French Prairie is an independent nonprofit land-use conservation organization that is a local affiliate of the statewide 1000 Friends of Oregon land-use watchdog group.


Link to the Aurora Airport Petition by clicking here

The Proposed Aurora Airport Expansion in Context

The proposed Aurora State Airport project is just the latest in an alarming trend of frivolous, expensive GA airport expansions. For more background, see the very informative article from Aviation Impact Reform entitled Aurora Airport is an Example of How GA Airports are Changing for the Worse.

As stated in that posting, "The current KUAO [Aurora] Airport Master Plan is an excellent example of the gross inequities between the few who benefit from airport expansion and the many who are impacted in surrounding communities."

Dr. Arline Bronzaft on the Adverse Health Impacts of Noise

August 2, 2024

In June 2024, the American Psychological Association (APA) released a podcast, Speaking of Psychology: How Noise Pollution Harms our Health, with Arline Bronzaft, PhD.

Dr. Bronzaft is the Honorary Chair of the Quiet American Skies program through Quiet Communities, a non-profit organization that works to reduce harmful noise and pollution.

Below are some excerpts from the podcast. Both the 36 minute podcast and transcript are available here.


Dr. Bronzaft's BIO

Arline Bronzaft, PhD, is a professor emerita of Lehman College, City University of New York and an expert on the health and mental health effects of noise. She has been a researcher and advocate on the topic for more than 5 decades, has served as an advisor to five New York City mayors as the chairperson of the noise committee of GrowNYC.org, coauthored the 2011 book Why Noise Matters and is frequently quoted in the media on the effects of noise. Bronzaft was awarded a 2018 presidential citation from APA for her work as a Citizen Psychologist.

On the Difference Between Sound and Noise

We know sound is a physical phenomenon and it goes through our ears and it gets to our brain and we identify the sound. That's sound. But when you talk about noise, you're talking about sounds that are unwanted, intrusive, bothersome, disturbing. And now because of literature as you cited linking noise to adverse mental and health effects, we now say that noise is an environmental pollutant. And let me add that noise doesn't have to be loud to be that disturbing. Picture yourself trying to fall asleep next to a bathroom with a dripping faucet—that's not loud. Or my daughter trying to study in her bedroom and the person above playing music, which she didn't like by the way. But the point was the music wasn't that loud, but it disturbed her. And that's the difference between sound and noise.

Noise and Adverse Physical and Mental Health Impacts

Studies have now linked noise to cardiovascular disorders so that if people are living with aircraft noise—and you can't imagine unless you're exposed to it, how awful that is—they are at an increased risk of entering hospitals with cardiovascular disturbances. Sleep loss has been linked in studies to noise. Sleep is essential for good health. So the literature is confirming this. I'm actually working with a professor at Columbia who'll be shortly doing a study on the effects of community noise on sleep of people living in that community. So the studies are there, they've been replicated. They have found that noise is harmful to health.

But now let's take mental health. I wish you would be in my home when I get a call from someone who has a noise problem, the anguish, the distress, the unhappiness, the frustration of not having this being resolved, having been exposed to neighbor noise maybe 5, 6 years, having been exposed to noise coming from a venue in the neighborhood. Those are psychological effects, distress, disturbance. Now while the stress which comes with stress and disturbance can lead to physiological disorders, the mental discomfort and anguish and unhappiness has been identified throughout the world.

And let me add this—you may not yet have become ill. Your blood pressure may not have yet risen to a point where you need medication, but you know what? You are not living a decent quality of life. Quality of life is important. It's not just enough to be alive. My daughter who lives in Queens with aircraft noise cannot enjoy her backyard. Wow. COVID came and what a comfort that was. No planes, birds singing and being viewed as she sat and enjoyed her backyard. I think people are entitled to quiet in their homes and hopefully they will not develop more serious symptoms. But when they're being imposed upon by hazardous noise pollutants, they are missing out on living a decent quality of life.

Now, let's talk about getting accustomed to a sound. That requires work, that requires stress on your system and that will cause an adverse effect. And I'm going to give you another term that comes up: learned helplessness, a psychological term where a person feels, no matter what I do, nothing is going to change. I cannot make another phone call to my legislator's assistant. I can't talk to my neighbor again. I have to learn to live with it. Living with noise is stress. It takes work to try to cancel out the sounds and go on with your life, and that is costly to your health.

Failure of Government to Address Noise Pollution

What about the federal government? What have they done about noise? Zero, in my estimation. However, if we go back and you're going to have to come up with the president, there was a president that set up the Environmental Protection Agency that gave us the Noise Control Act, that gave us the Clean Air Act—President Richard Nixon— not only did he set up EPA, he put an excellent person in charge of EPA. EPA was coming out with literature on how harmful noise is to health.

In fact, their literature in late '70s said, "Noise: a health problem." Look how advanced we were in the late '70s, and they were handing out brochures and they came to cities and talked to people. And then Ronald Reagan was elected president. He essentially shut down the noise arm in the EPA. But there were a number of presidents after Ronald Reagan. They could have refunded it. The Bushes could have refunded it, right? We could have—Clinton could, Obama could, and Biden could certainly refund the noise office. There's legislation introduced in Congress. But they've been doing this for years to try to get funding. But we haven't had an executive order that says, Hey, this is a serious problem. Let's get back to what we were doing in the 1970s. And if you come to my home, I can show you their brochures, their pamphlets, and you'd see how active the U.S. was. No longer.

Societal and Economic Costs of Noise Pollution

If studies show that exposure to aircraft noise increases your risk of going to a hospital for a cardiovascular disorder—that's going to cost money. When you allow noise to prevail, it's costly. So even though the airlines say, oh, if we make changes—and they are exploring changes, let me tell you that they are—that could be costly. What's more costly than medical health in this country? I think the military may beat it, but when you do not take care of a noise problem, like the children who were years behind in reading, how much would it have cost to try to improve their reading scores? They were nearly a year behind. If you don't lessen noise pollution, it will cost this country in terms of dollars. And I want that factored in when the FAA's approached to provide quieter aircraft and quieter routes.



Additional Reading

To read more on the harmful impacts of noise, see:

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