Study Finds Lead 7x Higher Near Oregon Airports — SkimNews
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- Oregon State and Portland State University researchers found lead levels about seven times higher near Hillsboro and Troutdale airports than in surrounding urban areas, with isotopes linking the contamination to single-piston engine aircraft fuel.
- The study, published this week in Nature Communications Sustainability, detected the most significant lead impacts within a half mile of the airports by testing moss on nearby street trees — a cheaper method than air quality monitors.
- Hillsboro Airport ranks tenth nationally for estimated lead emissions according to EPA data, while Portland International Airport, which serves commercial airliners, ranks 793rd, underscoring that single-piston aircraft are the source.
- The Hillsboro City Council voted in late June to urge the Port of Portland to accelerate the transition to unleaded aviation fuel at Hillsboro Airport; the Port said it supports the shift but only the FAA can mandate it.
- The EPA ruled in 2023 that leaded aviation fuel endangers public health under the Clean Air Act, yet no enforcement has followed; the FAA plans to phase out leaded aviation fuel by 2030.
- Two Santa Clara County, California airports banned leaded fuel sales in 2023 after a study found elevated blood lead levels in nearby children, though planes can still arrive using leaded fuel purchased elsewhere.
Why it matters: With roughly 19,000 small airports nationwide still using leaded fuel and the EPA having already ruled in 2023 that it endangers public health, residents near general aviation airports — especially children, who face irreversible cognitive harm at any exposure level — remain unprotected while federal enforcement and the 2030 FAA phase-out remain years away.
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