Reid-Hillview and San Martin Airports, both located in California, will no longer be providing leaded fuel to aircraft following a study that showed elevated lead levels in children living nearby.
The County of Santa Clara's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban the sale of leaded aviation gas last August after reviewing the peer-reviewed study, which monitored the approximately 13,000 children living near Reid-Hillview Airport in East San José, a Jan. 6 County of Santa Clara press release said.
“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,” County Executive Jeffrey V. Smith said in the release.
Following the ban, the airports will only be providing unleaded fuel to aircraft, the release said. The reduction in lead emissions is expected by the study to address the negative health impacts associated with elevated blood levels, including a reduction in cognition and IQ. As a result, the study says the children will “realize a gain of $11 million to $25 million in lifetime earnings.”
“Children living near these smaller airports, all over the nation, are unconscionably being harmed by leaded fuel,” Supervisor Cindy Chavez said in the press release. “The County of Santa Clara is doing everything in its power to eliminate this health and equity crisis here at home, as we press for a change at the federal level.”
A petition has been submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency requesting it takes action to eliminate lead pollution from aircraft nationwide, the release said.
