Bipartisan Outrage Over Ongoing Use of Leaded Aviation Fuel

"While lead pipes and paint are well known contributors to this mass poisoning of American people, especially in our children, leaded aviation fuel is not," said Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat whose district is not far from Flint, where contamination of the water supply a few years ago put the dangers of lead exposure back on the public's radar.

Representative Yvette Herrell, a Republican from New Mexico, sounded a similar warning. "Exposure to lead can have devastating health effects on humans," she said, "and this committee would be hard pressed to find someone who did not want to find a solution to this complex problem."

[Cindy] Chavez, the Santa Clara County commissioner, says 13,000 children live within 1.5 miles of Reid-Hillview, which is one of the highest lead-emitting airports in the country. A study commissioned by the county in 2020 found a clear link between lead exposure and proximity to the airport...After the study came out, Chavez testified, residents came to her and her colleagues, asking whether lead exposure might be the source of miscarriages they suffered or development disabilities diagnosed in their children. People "were seeing poor health outcomes and wanted to know how much of it was attributable to lead," she said.

The FAA and EPA, whose cooperation will be needed to phase lead out of the fuel supply and usher in new formulations, took a bipartisan beating for not sending any senior officials to the hearing. Herrell called their absence "unconscionable." [Chair Ro] Khanna told Quartz, "The next step is a subpoena if they don't cooperate."

Immediate action is most likely to come at the local level. Not all general aviation airports are publicly owned. But other jurisdictions already have reached out to officials in Santa Clara County about using its ban on refueling with leaded avgas as a model.