Lead pollution from small planes threatens human health, EPA finds

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced it has determined that lead emitted from airplanes is a danger to public health, opening the door for the agency’s first limits on lead fuel in aviation.

The move puts the Biden administration in the middle of a brewing fight over how long airports - particularly smaller ones - can continue selling leaded gasoline, despite the health hazards from this powerful neurotoxin. More than 170,000 smaller planes, known as piston-engine aircraft, still use leaded gasoline, according to the EPA, and there is an ongoing dispute about how quickly this form of fuel can be phased out at thousands of airports nationwide.

The agency first proposed the move last year. It is a formal step known as an “endangerment finding,” and it now obligates the agency under the Clean Air Act to set new rules on what aircraft engines can emit.

“The science is clear: exposure to lead can cause irreversible and lifelong health effects in children,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “Aircraft that use leaded fuel are the dominant source of lead emissions in our air.”

Now that the EPA has made its determination, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it will move forward with rulemaking aimed at controlling or eliminating aviation lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft.

That work is happening as Congress also considers a long-term reauthorization of the FAA, including a bipartisan proposal that passed the House that would effectively require small airports to continue selling leaded gasoline.

In a statement, a coalition of 10 industry groups said they are working with the administration toward the ultimate elimination of lead from aviation gas by the end of 2030 or sooner, but emphasized that aviation safety will depend on “an orderly, nationally coordinated transition.”

“The premature removal of an essential fuel that many aircraft require for safe operation, before a replacement is available, would compromise the safety, efficiency and economic viability of the U.S. airspace and airports, the general aviation industry and transportation infrastructure,” said the group, which includes the National Air Transportation Association, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the American Petroleum Institute.

Some members of Congress echoed those comments, including Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chair of the House Transportation Committee, who said the EPA’s determination “short circuits” years of collaboration between the government and industry to find a viable fuel alternative.

Commercial jets do not use leaded fuel, so the rules would affect only smaller planes that fly two to 10 passengers, the EPA said. On average these aircraft are nearly 50 years old and were originally designed to run on leaded fuel as a way to prevent engine trouble in flight.

While the planes are only a small subsection of the aviation industry, the agency said their emissions still pose risks near their airports, many of which are mostly in or near poor or minority communities. That includes more than 5 million people, of which about 363,000 are children 5 or younger, according to EPA figures.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who has long raised concerns about the use of lead fuel in aviation and its impact on local communities, including one in his district, welcomed the EPA’s determination.

“I hope it leads to further action to end the use of this toxic fuel and speeds adoption of ready alternatives,” Khanna said in a statement, noting that a recent study found high levels of lead in children who lived near a general aviation airport in his district.

Mark Baker, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, said his group thinks “it’s the right thing to do,” adding, “And as we move toward it, we want to do it in a safe way.”

In the interim, the FAA said it also encourages industry to take steps that can help reduce the impact on communities, including the early adoption of alternative unleaded fuels and the management of lead emissions by encouraging pilots to perform engine warm-ups and preflight tests in areas farther from populated areas.

The agency has been working with the general aviation community on ways to eliminate leaded aviation fuels used by piston-engine aircraft by the end of 2030. One key goal is to identify at least one unleaded fuel that can be used safely by general aviation aircraft.

Lead exposure can cause behavioral problems, lower IQs and slow growth, the EPA said. The agency has been trying to strengthen rules against lead pollution, partly in response to a new scientific consensus that lead can harm children at even the most microscopic levels.