Leaded Aviation Fuel: EPA Proposed Clean Air Act Endangerment Finding

Description

The EPA and other regulators have aggressively targeted for years the harmful effects of lead in products, water, and air under many laws and regulations, including the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Clean Air Act. Aviation gasoline (avgas) is the aviation fuel most used in piston-engine aircraft and is thought to contribute well over half of the lead entering the air annually. Avgas remains the only transportation fuel in the United States to contain lead.

Recently, the EPA issued a proposed finding that lead emissions from aircraft engines that operate on leaded fuel cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare. An endangerment and contribution finding is the first step in the process of regulating lead emissions from avgas, which would also trigger new rulemaking from the FAA. Covered aircraft are primarily owned for "general aviation" uses and would have a substantial impact on private pilots and owners, aircraft manufacturers, maintenance, service, and repair organizations, and the private air taxi market. Commercial and military aircraft generally do not use leaded avgas.

In addition, Executive Orders call on federal agencies to make achieving EJ part of their mission "by developing programs, policies, and activities to address the disproportionately high and adverse human health, environmental, climate-related and other cumulative impacts on disadvantaged communities, as well as the accompanying economic challenges of such impacts." Although the EPA is not at this time proposing lead emission standards, the EPA's EJ consideration is focused on describing populations living near airports and studies of increased blood levels in children with increasing proximity to airports, especially in minority and low-income households.

Listen as our distinguished panel of environmental attorneys addresses the emerging developments related to lead emissions from avgas and offers takeaways for navigating the current shifting regulatory landscape. Environmental counsel will also offer future guidance amid increasing EJ-related scrutiny across multiple jurisdictions.