The Environmental Protection Agency on Oct. 18 determined lead emissions from aircraft a public health and environmental crisis, with associated research revealing Maricopa County having a major issue.
The EPA determined lead emissions from aircraft engines cause or contribute to air pollution and definitively endanger public health under the Clean Air Act. EPA must now propose and promulgate regulatory standards for lead emissions for certain aircraft engines.
According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nexus, blood lead levels in children are higher near airports, with children east and predominantly downwind from airports showing higher traces.
“The science is clear: exposure to lead can cause irreversible and life-long health effects in children,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan in a press release. “Aircraft that use leaded fuel are the dominant source of lead emissions in our air."
The report studied blood lead samples of 14,000 children five years old or younger residing near Reid-Hillview Airport in Santa Clara County, California.
According to EPA's Oct. 18 statement, lead exposure can harm cognitive function, including reduced IQ, decreased academic performance, and increased risk for additional health concerns.
According to environmental nonprofit Earth Justice, five Maricopa County airports made the top 100 in a 2021 survey of the top lead polluting airports. The survey used NEI data from 2017 to aggregate the results nationwide.
Maricopa County scores the highest in lead emission at 2.9 tons from air traffic.
Leading the way in the report is the city of Phoenix’s Deer Valley Airport, with nearly 1 ton (1,851 pounds) of lead spewed out in the year. Also mentioned are Chandler Municipal, Mesa’s Falcon Field, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway and Scottsdale airports at 1,194, 1,078, 1,033 and 740 pounds of lead emitted in the year, respectively.
Maricopa airports having a Goodyear
Absent from the top lead-emitting list is Phoenix Goodyear Airport. The airport added United Airline's United Aviate Academy, last year after Earth Justice's rankings were published.
The site already had its share of concerns.
In 1983, the EPA added the airport in Goodyear to its superfund program’s National Priorities List — the designation earmarked federal money for the cleanup, treatment of groundwater, and removal of lead-contaminated soil.
The 1989 superfund report outlines lead concentrations exceeding acceptable levels by 50%. The status of the current remediation is unclear. The airport was formerly known as Naval Air Facility Litchfield Park, and has a decades-old history of operation, dating back to World War II.
In 2022, approximately 169,323 takeoffs and landings occurred at Scottsdale Airport. Scottsdale was number 35 in Earth Justice’s 2021 lead emission report.
According to reports, the year-to-date general aviation operations at Phoenix Goodyear Airport increased 88% from 70,020 in 2021 to 132,000 in 2022. Analysts believe that Phoenix Goodyear Airport's numbers will surpass Scottsdale Airport's 2022 numbers with 200,000 takeoffs and landings in 2023.
Phoenix Goodyear Airport is operated and owned by the city of Phoenix alone.
CDC guidance suggests those who live near those general aviation airports, have a higher risk of air and soil lead exposure from aviation gas used in piston-engine aircraft.
Private jets and commercial airliners use unleaded fuels like those that fly into Sky Harbor International Airport. Aviation gasolines used by thousands of smaller aircraft, like those at flight schools, are considered top contributors to lead emissions.
Lead is impacting children, areas with diversity disproportionately
Lead exposure from these planes disproportionally affects younger children, who could start behind the proverbial IQ eight ball.
In a 2021 study, researchers predict by 2030, early childhood lead exposure will reduce population IQ by 709,054,633 total points, an average deficit of 2.03 IQ points per person. In 2006, a study by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital also found that heightened exposure could increase the odds of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Plane emissions and exposure also affect minority populations disproportionately.
According to a study published in Pediatrics, blood lead levels are higher in children living in racially segregated neighborhoods. The report suggests systemic racism plays a role in exposure and adverse health effects.
An eighth of a mile east and downwind of Phoenix Goodyear Airport is Michael Anderson Elementary School. According to U.S. News, the school’s minority student enrollment is 95%, with 42% coming from economically disadvantaged families.
Also, 1.5 miles east of Phoenix Goodyear Airport is Agua Fria High School, with a total minority enrollment of 87%.
In the Reid-Hillview Airport study the EPA referenced in October, researchers found children living within 1.5 miles of the Reid-Hillview Airport had elevated lead levels in their blood. Those tested levels climbed closer and downwind to the airport.
Research also suggests that with higher altitudes lead emissions were lower and more dispersed. According to Gary Keller, a lead poisoning advocate and former firefighter, certain low-altitude maneuvers can exacerbate pollution concerns.
Keller bears an interest because firefighters are often embedded or stationed near airports.
"Even though at higher altitudes the lead has to go somewhere, the argument no longer exists when flight schools engage in touch-and-go pattern work," he said. "This activity consists of a continuous, concentrated circular pattern at low altitudes as they are always in a takeoff or landing mode. Though not the only ones, these flight schools contribute the largest to the amount of lead that children are breathing in that live near these airports."
Phoenix Goodyear Airport's website states it is the busiest single-runway airport in the nation, the 11th busiest general aviation airport in the U.S. and the 49th busiest in the U.S. of all airports combined.
According to the Arizona Department of Transportation, the Arizona aerospace industry contributes over $121.4 billion to the state's economy every year.
The National Business Aviation Association says a premature lead gas ban may adversely impact the economy.
"The premature removal of an essential fuel that many aircraft require for safe operation before a replacement is available, would compromise the safety, efficiency and economic viability of the U.S. airspace and airports, the general aviation industry and transportation infrastructure," it said, in a statement.
Industry stakeholders believe 2030 is a reasonable deadline for lead gas transition, as previously mandated by the FAA.
The city of Phoenix's response
According to the Federal Register, in October, the measured air concentrations at Phoenix Deer Valley Airport were less than the lead standards, and air monitors were subsequently removed from the EPA’s lead monitoring program. The city referenced pages 14-16 of a September EPA report.
According to Heather Shelbrack, public relations deputy aviation director, removing lead is a long process that involves stakeholder involvement.
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s finding released on Oct. 18 is the first step in the long process that requires the EPA to develop lead emissions standards and the Federal Aviation Administration to enforce those standards through the aircraft certification process. The National Business Aviation Association, a coalition of aviation stakeholder organizations, issued a joint statement regarding the EPA endangerment finding on Oct. 18. Readers can find that at https://nbaa.org/2023-press-releases/aviation-stakeholders-respond-to-epa-endangerment-finding-on-leaded-avgas/," she said.
Maricopa County, the Arizona Department of Health Services and Scottsdale Airport were all contacted, but comments were not received by press time.
