Port's Hillsboro Airport Leaded Avgas Roundtable
Fails to Deliver

Miki Barnes
December 18, 2024

Beginning in February of 2024, the Port of Portland sponsored three roundtable meetings on transitioning to leaded aviation fuel at the Hillsboro Airport (HIO). Unfortunately, very little outreach was done to inform the public about these meetings. They were not publicized in local newspapers nor were they included on the Port's community engagement calendar thus very few people were even aware they were taking place. At an October 9, 2024 Port Commission meeting, Steve Nagy, Director of Airport Operations, informed commissioners that a plan for transitioning to unleaded aviation fuel would be presented at the final roundtable meeting on 11/26/2024. As made clear in Blaine Ackley's testimony at a subsequent Port Commission meeting, included below, this did not occur.

GAMI G100UL, an FAA approved unleaded aviation fuel is now commercially available through General Aviation Modifications, Inc. (GAMI). For additional information click here.

For information about Vitol, the energy company currently producing G100UL, click here.

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California Judge to Hear Arguments on Replacing Leaded Aviation Fuel with Unleaded G100UL

December 13, 2024

Below are the opening paragraphs of a 12/08/2024 AVweb article by Russ Niles, Environmental Group Asks Court to Enforce Unleaded Avgas Consent Agreement.

To access two of the legal documents filed on 12/04/2024 by the Center for Environmental Health on the Motion to Enforce and Modify Consent Judgement click here. A second motion filed concurrently is available here.

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Millions of Mental Health Disorders in U.S.
Caused by Lead Poisoning

Miki Barnes
December 6, 2024

"A significant burden of mental illness symptomatology and disadvantageous personality differences can be attributed to US children's exposure to lead over the past 75 years."

The above quote is from The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Contribution of Childhood Lead Exposure to Psychopathology in the US Population Over the Past 75 Years by Aaron Reuben, Michael J. McFarland, and Matt Hauer.

Below are excerpts from a CNN article by Madeline Holcombe, Research Shows More Than 150 Million Mental Diagnoses May Be Linked to Lead in Gasoline, published on 12/04/2024.

A 12/04/2024 NeuroscienceNews.com article, Leaded Gas Exposure Linked to Mental Illness provides additional information.

Though lead was removed from automotive fuel more than 25 years ago, piston-engine aircraft used by flight training schools, private pilots, hobbyists and others continue to use leaded avgas. Seventy percent of all airborne lead emissions in the U.S., 470 tons per year, are released by general aviation pilots who continue to pump lead into the air with abandon, despite the well-documented adverse impacts of this pernicious neurotoxin. Though commercial jets contribute to global warming and emit a number of toxic chemicals, jet fuel does not contain lead.

In Oregon, the largest facility sources of lead in the majority of the 36 counties throughout the state are airports. Washington County, the second most populated county in the state, is also the most lead polluted due primarily to relentless flight training and recreational flying over homes, neighborhoods, schools, day care centers, recreational areas, waterways and agricultural lands.

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Port of Portland: Final Roundtable on Transition to Unleaded Fuel

November 18, 2024

On Wednesday 11/20/2024, the Port of Portland will hold its third roundtable meeting on transitioning to unleaded aviation fuel. Over the past 22 years, users of the Hillsboro Airport (HIO), the largest facility source of lead in Oregon, have released more than 13 tons of lead into the air during the landing and take-off cycle. Additional lead is released during run-ups and the cruise phase of flight.

Out of 20,000 airports nationwide, HIO ranks eighth in the nation in lead emissions. As a result of the excessive aviation activity at HIO and surrounding airports, Washington County is the most lead polluted jurisdiction in Oregon. The testimony by Dr. James Lubischer below the meeting announcement provides information on the adverse health impacts of exposure to lead.

The following meeting announcement is from the Port's website Bringing Unleaded Aviation Fuel to Hillsboro Airport.

Testimony from Dr. James Lubischer Urging the Port and EPA to End Lead Poisoning

Dr. James Lubischer (retired pediatrician) has a long and dedicated history of advocating for the elimination of leaded aviation fuel at HIO. He submitted the following comments at the 11/13/2024 Port of Portland Board of Commissioners meeting. Recordings of previous Port Commission meetings are available on the Port of Portland's Commission Materials page.

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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.

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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:

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."

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.

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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:

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.

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."

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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.

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.

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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.

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."

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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:

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,

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.

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