FAA Blocks Efforts to Stop Lead Poisoning
By Oregon Aviation Watch, PO Box 838, Banks, OR 97106-0838, January 19, 2022
URL: https://mailchi.mp/2857c8ca3789/faa-blocks-efforts-to-stop-lead-poisoning?
e=0e273a55ef
Concluding Remarks
Given the historically divisive, oppressive, and heavy-handed policies promulgated
by the FAA, it is refreshing to witness the actions taken by the Santa Clara Board of
Supervisors in banning leaded aviation fuel at Reid-Hillview and San Martin
Airports. In the words of County Executive Jeffrey V. Smith, M.D., J.D. “We are
committed to the health of Santa Clara County residents and that includes taking
the necessary steps to protect the communities around County airports from
continued aviation lead exposure.”
In so doing, they demonstrated they have the courage and fortitude to not only
represent the greater good of their constituents but also to address the racial
injustices and inequities long exhibited by the aviation sector towards impacted
communities including children, minorities and economically marginalized
populations. The steps taken by the County Supervisors are an admirable example
of the enactment of democratic principles in response to the authoritarian
overreach of the FAA, a federal, tax-payer subsidized agency that all too often uses
its clout to degrade the livability of local residents in an effort to further the
interests of aggressive and environmentally irresponsible aviation business
corporations while leaving vulnerable populations underserved and at risk.
Who Benefits from GA Airports
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) statistics reveal that in 2020 there were
691,691 certified pilots nationwide, which translates into less than one quarter of
one percent of the population. Fewer than 9% were women. Private pilots
numbered 160,860. Nearly one-third, 222,629, were student pilots, many recruited
from overseas, with an additional 117,558 listed as flight instructors. Thus nearly
half of the total pilot population is associated with the flight training industry.
It is this privileged, self-entitled minority, this minuscule sliver of the population,
that is responsible for pumping 456 or more tons of lead, a pernicious neurotoxin
which disproportionately impacts children, minorities, and lower socioeconomic
groups, into the environment every year.
The FAA, Federal Government, aircraft manufacturers, aviation
professional associations, flight training schools, aircraft owners and
affluent pilots
vs.
Infants, toddlers, babies, preschoolers, kindergarteners, school age
children, adolescents, teenagers, unborn fetuses, pregnant mothers,
minorities, people of color, economically disadvantaged populations,
vulnerable adults, seniors, public health, wildlife, flora, clean air and
water, the environment and future generations
This commonplace match-up is emblematic of the erosion of democratic values
resulting from authoritarian, top-down policies. The FAA, in particular, has
become all too adept at funneling public money onto the hands of wealthy aviation
Experimental Aircraft Association
General Aviation Manufacturers Association
Helicopter Association International
National Air Transportation Association
National Business Aviation Association
The FAA is aligning with the above aviation associations and businesses despite
RHV lead study findings revealing “that leaded aviation fuel contributed to
significantly increased blood lead levels for those within a half-mile of the facility.
For context, the lead levels during peak hours were double the levels seen during
the height of the Flint Water Crisis in Michigan.”
Given the history of the aviation industry’s pervasive indifference to public health
and the environment, this is gearing up to become yet another all too familiar
showdown:
being harmed by leaded fuel.”
Aviation Interests’ Complaints to FAA
The list of the airport tenants, users and stakeholders who filed complaints about
the Santa Clara County leaded fuel ban reflects the institutionalized white-
privilege, patriarchal values this captive agency represents. Two are RHV based
flight training schools - Tradewinds Aviation and AeroDynamic - both of which
have a history of generating lead emissions, producing noise disruptions and
releasing a host of other pollutants into the atmosphere while training pilots over
the homes and neighborhoods of local residents.
Other stakeholders included:
South County Airport Pilots Association
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
flight training schools as well as individuals who can afford to own private jets,
aircraft and helicopters.
Only 500 of the approximately 20,000 airports in the U.S., two and
one-half percent, are commercial passenger facilities, some of which
also accommodate piston-engine aircraft. The remaining 97.5% are
General Aviation (GA) airports that predominantly serve for-profit
flight schools, private pilots, and air taxi services as well as corporate
and private jet owners. The vast majority of GA flights occur in piston-
engine aircraft that still rely on leaded fuel (avgas).
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has identified airports that service piston-
engine aircraft as potential sources of lead exposure. According to Environmental
Protection Agency, these aircraft are responsible for 70% of all airborne lead
pollution nationwide.
As pointed out by Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez, “Children living
near these smaller airports, all over the nation, are unconscionably
communities by minimizing, marginalizing and dismissing serious public health
and environmental concerns.
FAA AIP Funds Subsidized with Public Money
AIP funds originate from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. The grants the FAA
generously lavishes on general aviation airports derive primarily from fees affixed
to the tickets of commercial airline passengers each time they fly. Additional
money comes from cargo and fuel taxes.
Per the FAA, “AIP also received an additional $1.9 billion dollars in discretionary
funding for airport grants from the General Fund of the U.S. Treasury, including an
additional $400 million from the General Fund in FY 2020.”
Though U.S. airports are subsidized with public money, the FAA demonstrates
little if any concern whatsoever for the destructive impacts of the glut of airports on
local communities. Instead it caters to a privileged few aviation businesses and
aviation fuel as of January 1, 2022, at Reid-Hillview and San Martin Airports. Both
are County owned and operated general aviation facilities. In response, the FAA
sent a 10 page Notice of Informal Investigation letter dated 12/22/2021 to the
County Airports Administration.
“This letter is to inform you that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has
received multiple complaints from airport tenants and users, along with a group
representing industry stakeholders who allege violations of grant assurances at the
Reid-Hillview Airport (RHV) and the San Martin Airport…
“FAA records indicate that the planning and development of the Reid-Hillview
airport and the San Martin airport have been financed, in part, with funds provided
by the FAA under the Airport Improvement Program (AIP)…Upon acceptance of
an AIP grant, the assurances become a binding contractual obligation between the
airport sponsor and the Federal Government.”
The FAA, in collusion with the aviation industry and airport owners and operators,
has a lengthy history of using grant assurance agreements to disempower local
FAA Blocks Efforts to Stop Lead Poisoning:
Agency Argues that Grant Assurances Require Local Communities to
Expose Children to Harmful Levels of Lead
Should the Federal Government and U.S. Congress via the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) have the right to willfully and
intentionally subject children and the communities within which they
reside to a neurotoxin and probable carcinogen, knowing full well that
the adverse effects may be life-long and irreversible?
FAA Letter Challenging Ban on Leaded Fuel
Following the release of an 8/3/2021 peer-reviewed lead study that revealed
elevated blood lead levels in children living near the Reid-Hillview Airport (RHV),
the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to ban leaded
