Lead was phased out of gasoline sold for cars and trucks decades ago. But that brain-damaging fuel additive used to prevent engine knock is still being spewed into the air across the nation — including Southern California — by small aircraft that use leaded fuel.

For two decades, community groups and environmentalists have been pushing federal regulators to ban leaded aviation fuel that is used by about 170,000 small piston-engine planes, single and twin-engine planes that typically carry between two and 10 passengers. Aviation gasoline, or avgas, is the only transportation fuel that still uses lead and is the nation’s largest single source of airborne lead emissions, responsible for about 70% of the total.

After years of inaction, federal regulators are now finally poised to start eliminating this dangerous pollutant. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week issued an important finding that aircraft that use leaded fuel “cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare.” This action now obligates the EPA to adopt emissions standards while the Federal Aviation Administration develops standards for aircraft fuel.

This is very good news, though it should have happened long ago given mounting evidence of elevated blood lead levels of people who live in communities near general aviation airports. There is no safe level of exposure for this powerful neurotoxin. Lead contamination poses the greatest risks to young children, who can suffer irreversible behavioral, cognitive and developmental problems, including loss of IQ, from even small amounts of lead, which is emitted in tiny particles in aircraft exhaust and can also be deposited in the soil.

The Federal Aviation Administration last year started working with the aviation industry toward a goal of ending the use of leaded fuel by 2030, but adopting regulations and standards will turn what’s currently an aspiration into a true obligation. Federal officials don’t yet have a timeline for how soon they expect to propose emissions rules, but it’s important that they work to phase out leaded fuel quickly.

More than 5 million Americans live within 500 meters, or about 1,600 feet, of an airport, according to a 2020 EPA analysis, and studies have found higher blood lead levels among children who live or go to school near airports.

Aircraft pollution is especially bad in California, which has some of the airports with the nation’s highest reported lead emissions. Long Beach Airport ranks No. 2 in lead pollution, and Van Nuys Airport is No. 7, according to an analysis of EPA data by the group Earthjustice. John Wayne Airport, Chino Airport, Riverside Municipal Airport and Torrance Municipal Airport-Zamperini Field are also high up on the list.

This is also a matter of environmental justice. Communities near airports tend to have higher proportions of people of color and low-income residents than areas that are more distant. Many of these communities are among those with the highest lead pollution.

Fortunately, technology is no longer much of a barrier. The FAA has already approved safer, unleaded fuels for piston-engine aircraft. And while about 35 airports nationwide already provide unleaded fuel, much more needs to happen to scale up production and distribution and make higher-octane alternatives widely available.

There are aviation industry concerns about how to safely phase out lead. The average piston-engine aircraft still flying is more than 45 years old, and federal rules should address those safety concerns in addition to protecting public health from poisonous emissions.

Fortunately, technology is no longer much of a barrier. The FAA has already approved safer, unleaded fuels for piston-engine aircraft. And while about 35 airports nationwide already provide unleaded fuel, much more needs to happen to scale up production and distribution and make higher-octane alternatives widely available.

There are aviation industry concerns about how to safely phase out lead. The average piston-engine aircraft still flying is more than 45 years old, and federal rules should address those safety concerns in addition to protecting public health from poisonous emissions.

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