Toxic Leaded Aviation Fuel Polluting Drinking Water in Wisconsin
The following interview by Faye Parks and the News Department of the WORT Community Radio station in Madison, Wisconsin aired on 1/9/2025.
Both the audio (4 minutes 34 seconds) and the written transcript are available here.
Morey Airport (C29) is a general aviation airport owned and operated by the City of Middleton. It borders the neighboring Town of Middleton, a separate municipality, that is adversely impacted by the noise, lead emissions, pollution, safety and security risks produced by this airport. According to the website, "As of 2019, the airport accommodates around 40,000 operations annually, and approximately 100 aircraft are based at the field."
Per the 2017 Environmental Protection Agency National Emissions Inventory (NEI), Morey Airport emitted 217 lbs of lead into the air during the landing and take-off phase of flight that year. Additional lead was released during ground run-ups and the cruise phase of flight.
The opening paragraphs of the report appear below.
Leaded Gas At Middleton Airport Linked To Nearby Water Contamination
The U.S. Geological Survey found evidence of lead contamination in two private wells near the Morey Airport in the city of Middleton.
And that contaminant is the specific isotope, or fingerprint, for leaded aviation gas.
"It really – according to the EPA, I've been told – this is a first-of-its-kind study showing a connection between airborne, leaded aviation gas emissions from these aircraft overflights working its way into the ground," says Cynthia Richson, board chair in the town of Middleton.
The neighboring city of Middleton owns and operates Morey Airport, which has been under public scrutiny for years.
And Richson, who's led the charge for half a decade now, says the airport first got their attention due to noise pollution from low-flying planes.
"And when we started looking into that issue further, that is how we were really surprised to learn that these piston-engine aircraft – which are essentially recreational aircraft for hobbyists – used aviation fuel with lead in it," says Richson. "And we knew that lead in auto gas had been banned at least 25 years ago and we were really surprised to see that it was still allowed, legally, for these piston-engine aircraft."
Lead is a neurotoxin that can cause a range of serious health effects, even in minute levels.
But city of Middleton officials, Richson says, handwaved all of their concerns.
She hired a consulting firm in 2019 to study airborne lead levels around the airport. And those consultants found that the airport generated over 30% of all airborne lead emissions in Dane County.
To read the article in full click here.
A 1/6/2025 letter from the Town of Middleton to the City of Middleton in response to the contaminated well water finding is available here.
As stated in the letter, "The continued use and sale of leaded aviation gas at the recreational Airport is recklessly and needlessly putting at risk the health, safety and welfare of Middleton families...Continuing these health damaging conditions is unacceptable and easily remedied by terminating the sale and use of leaded avgas at the Morey Airport and replacing it with G 100 Unleaded Avgas."
A second article on the contaminated well water findings appeared in a 1/13/2025 Cap Times article by Andrew Bahl, Study Links Lead Contamination to Aviation Fuel in Dane County.
Stealthful: State of Michigan NMC and WMU Flight School Aircraft Release Lead over Michigan Communities
Oregon Aviation Watch welcomes guest author Charlie Schlinger's contribution to the nation-wide battle against aviation-generated lead pollution. The following is the author's summary of his longer paper, which is available in full on the Oregon Aviation Watch website (13 pages, PDF format). A brief review of Mr. Schlinger's professional credentials is presented at the end of this summary.
Public concern about toxic lead has focused on lead-based paint and lead in drinking water, but another source of lead – aviation-sourced lead – has gone under the radar. In Michigan, Traverse City area and Battle Creek area residents are gradually learning that the State of Michigan flight schools based in their communities have been surreptitiously emitting lead (Pb) over areas of these communities for nearly a half century, and continue to do so. One flight school is run by Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) and the other is run by Western Michigan University (WMU). Elsewhere across the U.S., other communities have found themselves in similar straits. Clearly, we are not yet done dealing with the environmental and public health impacts and legacy of lead.
Piston-engine aircraft, the plane of choice for the General Aviation (GA) sector that encompasses the vast majority of small planes and flight school aircraft, were long ago exempted from the 1970's-era phase out of leaded gasoline. The vast majority of piston-engine aircraft use leaded aviation gas. Thus, for the vast majority of the GA fleet in the U.S. the noise of these aircraft in operation is the sound of lead being emitted into the environment. These surreptitious lead emissions have been and remain a closely-guarded secret of the GA sector in our country and elsewhere around the world.
The predominant flight pattern used by almost all flight schools is known as a touch-and-go loop or circuit, which is used to maximize the number of takeoff and landing operations conducted by pilots training in these schools. During each circuit, neurotoxic nanoparticulate lead (Pb) is typically being emitted by each aircraft involved, and typically NMC and WMU have multiple aircraft aloft at any given time. That is, these are moving sources of lead (Pb) emissions. It is estimated that roughly 250 lbs of lead (Pb) particulates are emitted each year (lbs per yr) by NMC and roughly 1250 lbs per yr for WMU, in both cases in the near-airport and immediate airport settings. Over the roughly half-century record of these two flight schools, approximately 12,500 lbs of lead for NMC and 63,000 lbs for WMU have been emitted. While these flight schools in the past were smaller, the lead content of aviation gas was higher – nearly twice as high as it is now. Further, these programs are in expansion mode and the emissions are only increasing over time.
Lead emissions from NMC and WMU flight school piston engine aircraft are problematic for children and others who live beneath and downwind of the flight school flight paths for a number of factual reasons.
- Depending on the flight school and on other factors, but especially up until the present time, flight school aircraft generally repeat the same flight paths, upwards of thousands or tens of thousands or more times each year.
- Lead emissions from flight school piston-engine aircraft are particulates, and they are primarily nanoparticulates.
- Aircraft lead emissions are tasteless, invisible to the human eye, and odorless.
- Lead is a heavy element and lead particulates are heavier than air, settling from higher to lower elevation over time – through a process known as dispersion, which depends on wind speed, atmospheric conditions and other factors.
- Nanoparticulate lead emissions from flight school piston-engine aircraft and ground level exposures to lead by inhalation generally occur under fair-weather low-windspeed conditions and at relatively low elevation.
- Aviation-sourced lead emissions result in ground level concentrations of lead that result in lead exposure, for example, via inhalation.
- Lead is a potent neurotoxin, especially for children; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, indicate that there is no safe level for lead exposure in children; even low levels of lead in blood are associated with developmental delays, difficulty learning, and behavioral issues; the effects of lead poisoning can be permanent and disabling.
- Like other nanoparticulates, nanoparticulate lead is readily taken up in children's lungs and transported by blood to tissues and bone as part of normal growth.
- The medical effects of lead are numerous, and lead has been found to have epigenetic effects (changes to chromosomal DNA functioning with altered gene expression) that are heritable.
- The aviation industry and particularly these two flight schools have had remarkable success at covering up their historic and ongoing surreptitious neurotoxic lead emissions from their touch-and-go flight school piston-engine aircraft operations.
It is past time for the State of Michigan, together with NMC and WMU administrators, to inform the residents of the Traverse City and Battle Creek communities of what the State and these two institutions are doing and have been doing as concerns lead emissions and lead exposures during the past half century. As part of conversations facilitated by an impartial third party, the State, NMC and WMU should solicit community input on what the State and these institutions need to be doing going forward as concerns their present and historic emissions of neurotoxic lead nanoparticulates over the communities where the two flight schools operate, and as concerns individual and public health impacts of the associated ongoing and historic exposures.
Charlie Schlinger, Professional Engineer, Registered Geologist, Certified Professional Geologist, is a Michigan resident and Flint native. He has spent most of his adult life and professional career in the west and southwest. Charlie earned his B.S. degree at the University of Michigan in Flint, and received his Ph.D. from The John Hopkins University. Later in his career, he went on to earn a Master's Degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Utah State University. Early on, he was a professor at the University of Utah and subsequently was an engineering professor at Northern Arizona University (NAU), where he has emeritus standing. At Utah he managed or led geophysics and geomagnetism research funded by the National Science Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, NASA, and others. At NAU he covered water resources and geotechnical engineering along with surveying. For the past 27 years much of his professional focus has been on civil and environmental engineering in support of tribal communities, schools & organizations, principally in the areas of water resources, water quality and water infrastructure. You can contact Charlie via email at lastgoodcountry@gmail.com.
Port's Hillsboro Airport Leaded Avgas Roundtable
Fails to Deliver
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.
12/11/24 Port of Portland Commission Meeting
Chair Coba, Vice President Luther and Commissioners:
In management circles, "leadership" refers to the ability to inspire, motivate, and influence a team towards achieving a shared goal, often by setting a clear vision, guiding through change, and empowering individuals to contribute to the organization's success; it goes beyond just authority and focuses on building a positive team culture and aligning people towards a common purpose.
Given this definition, I was really looking forward to the November 20, 2024 Hillsboro Avgas Roundtable Zoom meeting because at the October meeting in response to a question from the Commission, Steve Nagy, stated that a “draft transition plan” would be presented at that meeting.
Consequently, I was surprised when there was no draft plan presented at the meeting. Just more incomplete, misleading, or obfuscating comments from the Port Staff. I was also surprised because according to the Port, transitioning to unleaded fuel is their #1 priority at HIO. So is that the vision?
In my experience, when you have a clear vision, leadership sets strategic objectives and project due dates so the whole organization can focus on the vision and everyone knows their role and responsibilities.
Therefore, I was surprised that neither Mr. Nagy, Mr. Pippinger, Mr. Robinhold, or any of the Commissioners chose to attend or even listen in to this meeting.
What we have is a leadership failure at the Port of Portland. When might we see a transition plan? When might we see an update from the Roundtable? We were told sometime in the Spring. Hello, who's on first base and where is first base?
What happened to the vision, the plan? While the Port is trying to figure things out, we residents of Hillsboro will just be getting sprayed with another 1,500 lbs. of toxic lead.
Meanwhile, Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose is already pumping G100UL avgas. Why not us?
The Commission needs to demand that the Port develop and implement a strategic plan to sell G100UL avgas at HIO and Troutdale.
I also recommend that the Port allocate $250,000 to the Washington County Health Department to test the lead levels in the blood of children attending those schools in a two-mile radius of the airport.
I further recommend that the Port post high lead level warning signs around the perimeter of the airport.
Blaine Ackley
Hillsboro resident living near the airport
Blaine Ackley is a University of Portland Associate Professor Emeritus, specializing in organizational change and teacher education. Formerly, he was an elementary, middle school, high school teacher and administrator in Idaho, Chile, Oregon, and Alaska. His education includes a BA in History, Political Science, and Sociology from the University of Montana (1961-65), M.Ed. (1973) and an Ed.D. from the University of Oregon (1991). For more than two decades, he has advocated for the elimination of lead from aviation fuel as well as the reduction of aviation noise and pollution generated by the Hillsboro Airport.
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.
California Judge to Hear Arguments on Replacing Leaded Aviation Fuel with Unleaded G100UL
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.
A California Superior Court judge will hear arguments Jan. 28 that could result in 100LL becoming unavailable in California and replaced by GAMI's G100UL unleaded avgas. The court will also be asked to require the four major fuel distributors serving California airports to carry G100UL.
The Center for Environmental Health says it's bringing the action because the distributors have not accepted the fuel in contravention to a consent agreement they and 26 FBOs signed to settle a lawsuit with CEH in 2014. Nine of the FBOs have since gone out of business or been bought out. Under that agreement, the defendants agreed to distribute and sell any new fuel that used less lead than 100LL when it became commercially available.
In this latest action, the environmental group says G100UL meets all the requirements for the lower lead fuel described in the consent agreement in that it's approved (via STC) for use in "nearly all" aircraft and has a specification determined by the FAA to be as safe as 100LL for distribution and use.
To read the article in full click here.
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.
Millions of Mental Health Disorders in U.S.
Caused by Lead Poisoning
"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 history of lead in gasoline may be behind tens of millions of mental health conditions in the United States...
"We've shifted the curve in the population for mental health problems, so that everyone has a greater liability in the mental illness symptoms, and that some people who were already at risk are going to develop diagnosable disorders sooner, more often or more kinds," said coauthor of the study Dr. Aaron Reuben, assistant professor of clinical neuropsychology at the University of Virginia.
The study published Wednesday in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry estimates that about 151 million mental disorder diagnoses in the US are attributable to lead. The exposure likely would not have happened had lead not been in gasoline, Reuben added...
"Millions of Americans are walking around with an unknown, invisible history of lead exposure that has likely influenced for the worse how they think, feel and behave."
Lead is a potent neurotoxin and can disrupt brain development in many ways that can impact most types of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression and ADHD...
"It also changed personalities. We believe that (lead exposure) makes people a little less conscientious—so less well organized, less detail-oriented, less likely to be able to pursue their goals in an organized way, and more neurotic," Reuben added.
A 12/04/2024 NeuroscienceNews.com article, Leaded Gas Exposure Linked to Mental Illness provides additional information.
A new study estimates that childhood lead exposure, peaking between 1960 and 1990 due to leaded gasoline, caused 151 million excess cases of mental illness by 2015. Researchers linked historic lead exposure data to mental health symptoms, finding that personality changes and mental health disorders were most pronounced among Generation X.
This underscores the lasting impact of environmental toxins on public health, with leaded gasoline serving as a cautionary tale for prioritizing profit over safety. The findings highlight the need to address environmental risks proactively to prevent long-term societal harm.
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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