EPA Lead Strategy Public Comment Session for Region 8
March 1, 2022 at 6:00 PM Mountain Time

February 28, 2022

Voice your concerns about leaded aviation fuel at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lead Strategy online meeting for Region 8 on March 1, 2022, at 6:00 pm Mountain Time. Region 8 includes CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, and WY. Per the EPA website, residents from other regions are also welcome to attend. At previous meetings, commenters were each allotted 3 minutes to speak.

Additional information is available at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Draft Lead Strategy website. To register scroll down to the Public Outreach Opportunities section.

Colorado Residents Express Concern about Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport Generated Lead Pollution

The following February 22, 2022, article, Residents Raise Concerns Over Lead from Airplanes by Luke Zarzecki from the Westminster Window, provides yet another example of how airports across this country are poisoning local residents with lead. Piston-engine aircraft, primarily used for flight training and by private and recreational pilots, are responsible for 70 percent of airborne lead pollution nationwide. Multiple studies have found elevated blood lead levels in children living in proximity to airports that service piston-engine aircraft. There are 20,000 lead spewing airports in the U.S.

According to the CDC, "There is no safe level of lead in a child's blood."

As stated in the article:

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plan to study lead emissions at regional airports has local activists calling for changes at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport.

"On Jan. 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will investigate the effects of emissions from piston-engine aircraft operating on leaded fuel on public health and welfare.

"According to the 2017 EPA National Emissions Inventory, Colorado has five airports of the top 100 lead-emitting airports nationally, including the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (Jeffco Airport), which sits at 63.

"'(The lead) falls to the ground as lead particulate, landing on our houses, schools, playgrounds and open space. It leaves dust that we breathe in; it coats our cars and enters our homes and workplaces. It builds up in soils, creating a toxic legacy for the unwitting gardener or hiker who then disturbs and redistributes it,' Charlene Willey of the Save Our Skies Alliance said.

"The airport dropped 580 pounds of lead in 2017, according to the study, and residents have been complaining about higher traffic from the airport starting in 2018."

To read the article in its entirety click here.

Support Endangerment Finding for Leaded Aviation Fuel and Ban Its Use

Oregon Aviation Watch is grateful to the individuals from Colorado and around the country who have already signed on in support of an endangerment finding for leaded aviation gasoline as well as a complete ban on this toxic fuel. There is still plenty of time to add your name and join with us in our collective efforts to protect humans, animals, and plant-life from the devastating effects of this pernicious pollutant. To sign the Letter of Support and to gather additional information on this appeal go to the Oregon Aviation Watch website.

Colorado Residents Speak Out

Below are some of the comments from Colorado residents who have already signed the letter of support. Thank you for taking action!

• "Over 25 years ago, leaded automotive gasoline was banned. Even though the danger of lead has been clear for decades, actually centuries, the FAA failed to act. So, the EPA was tasked with managing this issue 10 years ago. Yet, it also failed to act. It is beyond comprehension why general aviation is allowed to spew lead, carbon, particulates and noise in this day and age of undeniable climate change and environmental inequities. Now general aviation is booming, and the combustion-engine polluting, mainly recreational desires of a few supersede everything and everyone else. The situation is a disgrace. The FAA and EPA should be ashamed."
• "This is a very real problem. Dangerous to health. How can we protect ourselves from being carpet-bombed by lead?"
• "This is a case of the FEW seriously endangering the many. PRECISELY why we have the rule of law. Small planes need to be made much quieter, we need to ban unleaded gas, and we need rules about when and where they can fly."
• "I live under non-stop, low-flying, noisy, single-engine aircraft activity that spews lead on my community. Rocky Mountain Metro Airport is the responsible culprit with its excessive training traffic. We no longer use leaded gasoline in cars because of its polluting effects, so let's go the next step and protect humans from documented, dangerous effects of avgas."
• "Lead pollution from aviation fuel is an increasing problem from Rocky Mountain Municipal Airport. They have greatly expanded the number of flights in the past two years with plans to continue expanding. There are numerous schools in the area and many families with young children who are being exposed to lead-borne pollution on a regular basis. Lead is also a source of serious health effects on birds especially eagles which have nesting spots in the area. Lead free fuel is available and should be mandated to avoid serious health effects."
• "Lead is dangerous. It should not be sprayed from the sky on communities neighboring airports."
• "Lead poisoning is a concern in Centennial, Colorado, as we live near the second busiest general aviation airport in the country."
• "Constant low flying air traffic over my neighborhood from before dawn until well after dark. Very concerning!"
• "Please put this as a front burner concern!!! GA has morphed with unfettered growth vitally impacting my home everyday with noise, air and lead pollution."
• "A complete ban on unleaded fuel is decades overdue. The lobbying dollars of the 400 aviation associations in the U.S. as well as the protection that the FAA provides to the aviation industry, are the reasons that it took 25 years after the ban on unleaded gas for automobiles to develop a suitable unleaded fuel option for piston aircraft. It will take decades more for widespread use unless it is made mandatory."
• "This is urgent!!!!"