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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October 9, 2024 Port of Portland Board of Commissioners Will Meet in Hillsboro

October 7, 2024

The Port of Portland Board of Commissioners will hold its next monthly meeting:

Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at 9:30 a.m.

City of Hillsboro
Civic Center Auditorium
150 E. Main Street
Hillsboro, Oregon 97123

The Hillsboro Airport will be discussed at this meeting. To access the full agenda click here.

The following text, directly from the Port meeting announcement, explains the process for attending both in person and virtually. It also provides information on submitting live and written comments. (Bold added.) The time for Public Comment occurs at the beginning of the meeting.

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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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Lead Pollution in Portland Neighborhoods

Miki Barnes
August 14, 2024

"... we want to be conscious of what we're putting into the environment because it may be with us for a long time. We see that with the leaded gasoline. Any metals, like lead, that we're putting into the environment, the amount that's going to be there is also cumulative. So, if you're just putting a little in from one source and a little in from another, that's adding up."

–Alyssa Shiel Associate Professor in the College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, Lead Author on the Portland Lead Moss Study

A 7/23/2024 Oregon State University Newsroom release, Study of Urban Moss Raises Concerns About Lead Levels in Older Portland Neighborhoods, explained that "moss growing on trees in urban areas is an effective air monitoring system because it has a wide surface area to collect contaminants that settle out of the air around it."

For the purposes of the study, urban moss samples gathered in Portland in 2013 were compared to samples obtained in 2017 from nearby rural locations. The lead author Alyssa Shiel and co-authors Sarah Jovan, and Christina Murphy, found that "Lead levels in moss are as much as 600 times higher in older Portland neighborhoods where lead-sheathed telecommunications cables were once used compared to lead levels in nearby rural areas..." In addition, "The findings showed nearly 12 times higher lead levels in urban Portland than found in rural areas nearby. Chemical analysis indicates that much of the lead in the environment is due to leaded gasoline, which continues to persist in the environment nearly three decades after it was banned in the United States."

Per Shiel, "The lead introduced into the environment by leaded gas just hasn't gone away. We have to live with it."

The study, Lead-Sheathed Telecom Cables and Historic Leaded Gasoline Emissions Substantially Raise Environmental Lead Levels in Portland, Oregon, published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment found "leaded gasoline to be a pervasive and persistent lead source, decades after the complete phase out of leaded gasoline use by on-road vehicles. The highest lead levels, up to 590× the rural background, are found in older residential neighborhoods where relic lead-sheathed telecommunication cables were identified. Leaching of lead from these cables is thought to be responsible for elevated lead in older residential neighborhoods in cities across the country."

The study also found that "The lead isotopic compositions of moss from Portland sites (excluding those with lead cables) are consistent with that of leaded gasoline used in Portland (this study) and California...This suggests that the resuspension of soil and dust contaminated with lead from the historical use of leaded gasoline is the dominant lead source for most Portland mosses."

The study described lead as "a highly toxic metal associated with adverse health effects including hypertension and cardiovascular disease, renal disease, neurodegenerative diseases like ALS, and decreased neurobehavioral-cognitive function. Children are especially vulnerable as even low levels of lead in blood can adversely impact neurodevelopment and cause lower IQ, poorer academic achievement, cognitive deficits, behavioral problems, and delayed puberty. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention, no exposure limits are widely agreed upon as safe. Consequently, there is significant interest in identifying sources of lead pollution so that health risks can be mitigated."

To access a 7/23/2024 Oregon Public Broadcasting Think Out Loud interview OSU Study Raises Concerns About Elevated Lead Levels from Old Telephone Cables with Alyssa Shiel click here.

Oregon Aviation Watch applauds the OSU study and appreciates the well-deserved media attention it has received. However, it is important to recognize that pollution from leaded gasoline is not only historical. It continues to be emitted on a daily basis by general aviation aircraft that still burn leaded gasoline. The screenshots included in this posting are examples of how lead is emitted into the skies over Portland every single day and night.

Aviation Lead Emissions Routinely Deposited Over Portland

Please take the time to view the flight tracks in this section as they show how lead is released and distributed over Portland and the surrounding area on a daily basis. The screenshots included in this posting were gathered during a two-week period between 7/30/2024 and 8/13/2024. They represent but a small sampling of the aircraft that are continuing to emit lead over the greater Portland Metropolitan area.

Lead in automotive fuel was banned more than 25 years ago. However, piston-engine aircraft continue to emit lead over Portland and the surrounding community. Ironically, the aircraft delivering the most concentrated lead applications are registered to the City of Portland, the Portland Police Bureau, Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. Flight students and private pilots also contribute to the lead and pollution footprint.

Background on Aviation Lead Pollution

In the U.S. there are approximately 170,000 piston-engine aircraft still using leaded avgas. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these aircraft are responsible for 70% of all airborne lead emissions in the U.S. In Oregon, the percentage of lead released by mobile aircraft is even higher, 87%, compared to all other sectors.

Piston-engine aircraft which includes smaller airplanes and helicopters used for flight training, recreational flying, private pilots and police surveillance, release approximately one million pounds, close to 500 tons, of lead into the atmosphere every single year. Commercial and private jets by contrast, use a kerosene-based fuel that does not contain lead.

City of Portland Surveillance Aircraft - N425EJ

The flight track below, generated by a single aircraft, N425EJ, had been in the air, releasing lead, noise, and other pollutants, for more than 3 hours when the screenshot below was captured on Sunday, 8/11/2024 ay 7:10 PM. While in flight, it circled repeatedly over various neighborhoods in North, NE, and SE Portland.

 

N425EJ had been engaging in aerial surveillance over Portland and Clackamas County for more than 3 hours when the screenshot below was captured on Sunday, 08/04/2024 at 8:30 PM.

 

This next screenshot is a close-up of the flight track discussed above. It shows N425EJ circling over the Montavilla, Parkrose, Hazelwood, Madison and surrounding communities approximately 30 times during a one-to-two-hour period all the while releasing lead, noise and other toxins into the environment. In addition, it flew multiple times over neighborhoods in Hawthorne, Ladd's Edition, Buckman and other SE locations.

 

The next screenshot of N425EJ was captured at 12:37 PM on Sunday, 8/4/2024. The aircraft departed from PDX on 8/03/2024 at 10:32 PM. It had been emitting lead, noise and other toxins over parts of NE and SE Portland for more than 2 hours at the time this photo was taken.

 

The screenshot below was captured on Friday, 8/2/2024 at 9:42 PM. N425EJ had been releasing lead, noise, and other pollutants over North, NE and SE Portland for more than 3 hours at the time this photo was taken.

 

The screenshot below shows N425EJ, circling over older Portland neighborhoods in North, Northeast, and Southeast Portland neighborhoods. It had been releasing lead, noise and other pollutants into the air for more than 2 hours when this screenshot was captured at 1:12 AM on Saturday, 8/03/2024.

 

Portland Police Bureau Surveillance Aircraft - N2163J

The Portland Police Bureau aerial surveillance flight shown below had been emitting lead over Portland neighborhoods for 3-4 hours when this screenshot was captured at 10:40 PM on Tuesday, 8/14/2024. The flight track included 40 revolutions over Montavilla and Madison neighborhoods and another 40 over neighborhoods around the Centennial Community Association in outer SE Portland.

 

This screenshot below, produced by N2163J, registered to the Portland Police Bureau. was captured on Wednesday, 8/7/2024 at 4:45 PM after the aircraft had spent hours releasing lead, noise and other toxins over numerous Portland neighborhoods as well as parts of Clackamas County.

 

Below is a detail from the above 8/7/2024 screenshot showing the aircraft flying multiple times over Cully, Irvington, Laurelhurst, Rockwood, Montavilla, Mt. Tabor, and surrounding neighborhoods.

 

The flight track below was also produced by N2163J. It was captured on Tuesday 8/6/2024 at 10:58 PM after the aircraft had spent hours releasing lead, noise and other toxins while circling over North, NE and SE Portland neighborhoods.

 

The screenshot below, produced by N2163J was captured at 8:18 PM on 7/30/2024. The image shows that the aircraft circled and looped repetitively over various neighborhoods throughout the Portland area.

 

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Surveillance Aircraft (N931EM)

This Clackamas County Sheriff's Office aircraft, N931EM, had been repetitively circling over SE Portland and parts of Clackamas County for several hours when this screenshot was captured on Thursday, 8/8/2024 at 9:16 PM.

 

In this next screenshot, N931EM had been circling repetitively over SE Portland and various Clackamas County locations for close to 3 hours when this image was captured on Saturday, 8/3/2024 at 11:47 PM.

 

Multnomah County Sheriff's Office – N910TW

This flight track over SE Portland, Gresham, Fairview, Troutdale, Wood Village and other neighborhoods was produced by an aircraft registered to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. The aircraft had been in the air for several hours when this screenshot was captured.

 

This Multnomah County Police Bureau Aircraft had circled multiple Portland neighborhoods for several hours when the screenshot below was captured on 8/3/2024 around 11:00 PM.

 

Closing Remarks

It's important to bear in mind that other piston engine aircraft including student, private, and recreational pilots are adding to the lead pollution burden borne by area residents. In addition, aviation noise is known to have adverse impacts on human health as do the PM2.5, benzene, and other carcinogenic toxins released by this mode of fossil fuel burning aircraft.

Specific to lead, it may be possible to differentiate between legacy lead from automotive fuel vs leaded aviation fuel emissions. To access a 9/11/2020 article in the Journal of Atmospheric Research by Jack Griffith, Electron Microscopic Characterization of Exhaust Particles Containing Lead Dibromide Beads Expelled from Aircraft Burning Leaded Gasoline, click here. The article's abstract states that lead particles emitted by aircraft are significantly smaller than those emitted by automobiles, and so are more readily absorbed by the human body: "Of significant concern, the smaller aircraft particles could penetrate mucosal barriers in the lung and be readily taken up by epithelial cells."

As stated in the introduction to the article, "studies have suggested that the reduction in IQ levels in children exposed to lead from aviation gasoline emissions may constitute a 1 billion dollar a year economic loss in the US" (Wolfe et al., 2016; Zahran et al., 2017).

Lead is a pernicious neurotoxin which is known to cause potentially irreversible damage. For this reason immediate steps need to be taken to drastically reduce piston-engine air traffic over the greater Portland Metro area.

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Petition Opposes Expansion at the Aurora Airport

August 5, 2024

The Aurora Airport (KUAO), owned and operated by the State of Oregon, is located midway between two commercial airports that already have runways in place that can accommodate business and corporate jets. Both have experienced a significant drop in operations in recent years. The operational count at the 3,300 acre Portland International Airport, (PDX), 22 miles north of KUAO, peaked in 1998 at around 328,000 annual landings and take-offs. During the ensuing 25 years that number declined by more than 40 percent. In 2023, PDX logged 190,150 annual operations, 4,000 fewer than in 1975. (Sources: Portland International Airport Noise Abatement Plan, Volume 2: Appendices. August 1996. Table 11. Pg. 46 and Port of Portland Statistics webpage)

Along a similar vein, a review of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Terminal Area Forecast data on McNary Field (KSLE), located in Salem 23 miles south of KUAO, reveals that McNary logged 50% fewer operations in 2022 than it did in 2007. What these numbers indicate is that regionally there is an excess of capacity at Oregon's airports, thereby refuting the argument that additional capacity at KUAO is required. Even if the need were there, no community should be subjected to noisy, toxic aircraft foisted upon them without a democratic vote of the people.

The Hillsboro Airport, the largest general aviation airport in Oregon, is located 19 miles from KUAO. This facility is one of the biggest polluters in Washington County. Many residents of this jurisdiction are routinely doused with noise, lead, and other pollutants by student and private pilots flying in and out of HIO. Like KUAO, it caters to a self entitled few at the expense of the greater good. Increasing the number of gas-guzzling private jets would only add to the environmental degradation perpetrated by this airport.

According to a 2/14/2024 Oregon Public Broadcasting News report, "From 2017 to 2022, Oregon lost 4%...over 660,000 acres of farmland despite land use laws that restrict development unrelated to agriculture on land zoned for farming." Source: Oregon Continues to Lose Farmland, Some Advocates Say That Raises Red Flags.

There is no demonstrated need to sacrifice prime farmland to the special interests of a handful of private and corporate jet owners. Moreover, it is environmentally irresponsible and morally indefensible for the State of Oregon and the FAA to invest public money into promoting and funding this deceptive, heavy-handed master planning process.

Oregon Aviation Watch urges readers to sign this petition.

The Proposed Aurora Airport Expansion in Context

The proposed Aurora State Airport project is just the latest in an alarming trend of frivolous, expensive GA airport expansions. For more background, see the very informative article from Aviation Impact Reform entitled Aurora Airport is an Example of How GA Airports are Changing for the Worse.

As stated in that posting, "The current KUAO [Aurora] Airport Master Plan is an excellent example of the gross inequities between the few who benefit from airport expansion and the many who are impacted in surrounding communities."

Dr. Arline Bronzaft on the Adverse Health Impacts of Noise

August 2, 2024

In June 2024, the American Psychological Association (APA) released a podcast, Speaking of Psychology: How Noise Pollution Harms our Health, with Arline Bronzaft, PhD.

Dr. Bronzaft is the Honorary Chair of the Quiet American Skies program through Quiet Communities, a non-profit organization that works to reduce harmful noise and pollution.

Below are some excerpts from the podcast. Both the 36 minute podcast and transcript are available here.

Additional Reading

To read more on the harmful impacts of noise, see:

• Actions Speak Louder Than Words - Dr. Bronzaft's comments from a May 21, 2024 Quiet Communities article on the failure of the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act to mitigate aviation noise.
• How Traffic Noise Hurts Children's Brains - A 6/24/2024 BBC article citing Dr Bronzaft's work in New York City, along with additional examples and studies from Barcelona.