Hillsboro Airport and Unleaded Fuel on Agenda for 6/14/2023 Port Board Meeting

June 9, 2023

Attend and Testify - Make Your Voice Heard

The next Port of Portland Board of Commissioners meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at 9:30 am. Interested community members can attend the meeting virtually or in person. Public Comment can be submitted at the beginning of the meeting either orally or by email. If you want the entirety of your comments to appear in the meeting minutes, include that request in your testimony.

The agenda for the June meeting includes a discussion on the Hillsboro Airport and unleaded fuel.

Click here to access the Commission meeting materials including the agenda, Executive Director's report, meeting minutes draft and the livestream link.

HIO's Legacy of Lead Pollution

Currently unleaded aviation fuel for piston-engine aircraft is not available at HIO.

For close to a century, the users of the Hillsboro Airport have emitted lead into the air. As a result Hillsboro and Washington County are the most lead polluted jurisdictions in the State of Oregon. HIO, the largest general aviation airport in Oregon, ranks 8th out of 20,000 airports nationwide in lead emissions. It is also a source of noise, CO2, PM2.5, benzene and an array of other carcinogenic pollutants. (Source: 2017 EPA National Emissions Inventory)

The World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency are all in agreement:

THERE IS NO SAFE LEVEL OF LEAD IN A CHILD'S BLOOD

More than 9,000 children attend school within 4.2 miles of HIO. Thousands more live beneath flight training areas in Forest Grove, Banks, Manning, and other locations in Washington County. Multiple studies involving over 500 airports and more than a million children found elevated blood lead levels in children living near airports.

The following screenshot, captured on June 7, 2023, depicts a 2 and 1/2 hour period between 4:30 and 7:00 pm. It shows the flight tracks generated by aircraft over homes, neighborhoods, schools, prime farmland, waterways and recreational areas in Washington County. These relentless aerial assaults occur hundreds of times each day. HIO is shown at the center of the screen. The orange cluster at the bottom center is Twin Oaks Airport - the second largest facility source of lead emissions in Washington County. Both of these airports cater to flight training schools and private pilots. Flight tracks of this nature poison the air, compromise public health and degrade the livability of local residents.