Aviation Fuel Settlement May Help Phase Out Airborne Lead Pollution

January 22, 2015- While the US ended the use of leaded gasoline in automobiles in 1996, today many small aircraft still run on it. Lead is a potent neurotoxicant, and leaded aviation gas is now the nation’s leading contributor to airborne lead pollution. Studies suggest that people who live near airports can have elevated lead levels in their blood.

But that may be changing. The Center for Environmental Health (CEH), an advocacy group based in California, recently announced a legal settlement with 30 companies that sell or distribute leaded aviation gasoline, or avgas, in California, bringing closure to a long-running lawsuit that had been watched within the small-aircraft community.

Under the settlement, companies must sell the lowest lead fuel that is commercially available in sufficient quantities, warn the public about lead exposure through signs posted at airports and notices sent to nearby residences, and pay a total of $550,000 in penalties and legal costs.

“We’re really optimistic that it will make a transition [away from leaded avgas] occur,” says Caroline Cox, CEH’s research director.

Lead is added to avgas to prevent engine knock, which can pose safety problems during flight. Avgas is the last remaining leaded transportation fuel in the US, where 167,000 mainly small piston-engine aircraft use it, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Read the full sciencemag.org post here.

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