[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
TOXIC AIR: HOW LEADED AVIATION FUEL IS
POISONING AMERICA'S CHILDREN
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 28, 2022
__________
Serial No. 117-98
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Reform
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available on: govinfo.gov
oversight.house.gov
docs.house.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
48-388PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York, Chairwoman
Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of James Comer, Kentucky, Ranking
Columbia Minority Member
Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts Jim Jordan, Ohio
Jim Cooper, Tennessee Virginia Foxx, North Carolina
Gerald E. Connolly, Virginia Jody B. Hice, Georgia
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Jamie Raskin, Maryland Michael Cloud, Texas
Ro Khanna, California Bob Gibbs, Ohio
Kweisi Mfume, Maryland Clay Higgins, Louisiana
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Ralph Norman, South Carolina
Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Pete Sessions, Texas
Katie Porter, California Fred Keller, Pennsylvania
Cori Bush, Missouri Andy Biggs, Arizona
Shontel M. Brown, Ohio Andrew Clyde, Georgia
Danny K. Davis, Illinois Nancy Mace, South Carolina
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Scott Franklin, Florida
Peter Welch, Vermont Jake LaTurner, Kansas
Henry C. ``Hank'' Johnson, Jr., Pat Fallon, Texas
Georgia Yvette Herrell, New Mexico
John P. Sarbanes, Maryland Byron Donalds, Florida
Jackie Speier, California Mike Flood, Nebraska
Robin L. Kelly, Illinois
Brenda L. Lawrence, Michigan
Mark DeSaulnier, California
Jimmy Gomez, California
Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts
Russ Anello, Staff Director
Katie Thomas, Subcommittee Staff Director
Amy Stratton, Deputy Chief Clerk
Contact Number: 202-225-5051
Mark Marin, Minority Staff Director
------
Subcommittee on Environment
Ro Khanna, California, Chairman
Jim Cooper, Tennessee Ralph Norman, South Carolina,
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Ranking Minority Member
Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Bob Gibbs, Ohio
Jimmy Gomez, California Pat Fallon, Texas
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Illinois Yvette Herrell, New Mexico
Cori Bush, Missouri
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on July 28, 2022.................................... 1
Witnesses
Cindy Chavez, Supervisor, County of Santa Clara (California)
Oral Statement................................................... 5
Marciela Lechuga, Resident, Reid-Hillview Airport Buffer Zone
Oral Statement................................................... 7
Bruce Lanphear, Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser
University
Oral Statement................................................... 8
George Braly, Chief Executive Officer, General Aviation
Modifications, Inc.
Oral Statement................................................... 10
Chris D'Acosta, Chief Executive Officer, Swift Fuels
Oral Statement................................................... 11
Written opening statements and statements for the witnesses are
available on the U.S. House of Representatives Document
Repository at: docs.house.gov.
Index of Documents
----------
* Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Statement for the
Record; submitted by Rep. Herrell.
* Letter from County of Santa Clara Response to FAA re Leaded
Fuel; submitted by Rep. Lofgren.
* Letter from FAA to County of Santa Clara re Ban of Leaded
Fuel; submitted by Rep. Lofgren.
* Letter from Members of Congress Representing Santa Clara
County to Department of Transportation; submitted by Rep.
Lofgren.
Documents entered into the record during this hearing and
Questions for the Record (QFR's) are available at:
docs.house.gov.
TOXIC AIR: HOW LEADED AVIATION FUEL IS
POISONING AMERICA'S CHILDREN
----------
Thursday, July 28, 2022
House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Environment
Committee on Oversight and Reform
Washington, D.C.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:05 p.m., in
room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, and via Zoom; Hon.
Rho Khanna (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Khanna, Tlaib, Herrell, Fallon,
and Flood.
Also present: Representative Lofgren.
Mr. Khanna. The committee will come to order.
Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a
recess of the committee at any time.
I now recognize myself for an opening Statement.
Thank you to the panel for being here, both in person and
virtually. I am honored to welcome two residents of San Jose
today: Maricela Lechuga and County of Santa Clara supervisor,
Cindy Chavez. Maricela lives in East San Jose, blocks away from
Reid-Hillview Airport. Her Mexican-American family has lived in
the area for generations, and you will hear her powerful
firsthand testimony about how leaded fuel impacts her family
and her neighborhoods' day-to-day lives. It really is a
heartbreaking story. Supervisor Chavez is a powerhouse who is a
national leader in the fight to get lead out of aviation fuels.
She is a fighter for the working class and cares deeply about
the most vulnerable in our community. She has been a leader for
decades. I am also happy to welcome Ranking Member Herrell to
her first subcommittee hearing as ranking member, and I am
looking forward to working together. And we are going to have
our Ranking Member Comer give you a formal introduction.
I am holding this hearing today because I am outraged that
our Federal agencies have failed to prevent lead poisoning near
their small general aviation airports. There are 20,000 such
airports across the country, mostly sited in communities of
color and low-wealth communities. Not only is this historic
injustice, but, worse, it is still ongoing. The Federal
Aviation Administration has chosen a path of delay, holding up
the approval of a lead-free alternative fuel for no Stated
reason. Worse, in similar tactics to those we have seen in our
committee's investigation of climate delay and disinformation,
the fossil fuel industry and other special interests have also
sought to delay the phase-out of leaded aviation fuel.
Lead in aviation fuel, or avgas, is an urgent, little-known
health crisis. A study last year found that children living in
my district in East San Jose have blood lead levels higher than
kids had during the height of the drinking water crisis in 2014
in Flint, Michigan. It is a disgrace. We have with us today
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who has been highlighting, and
leading, and fighting on this issue for decades, and so honored
for her leadership and her joining us here today on our
committee.
What happens when kids ingest lead from the exhaust fumes
of private planes or flight schools near their homes, or lead
dust that has settled on surfaces, airborne lead penetrates
deep into the lungs and nasal passages before crossing into the
brain and bloodstream. Lead poisoning is devastating. It
damages every organ and slowly severs neural connections. Kids
struggle with seizures, learning disabilities, and low IQ. Lead
exposure can predict differences in a child's future income,
health, and educational attainment.
Though lead was banned from cars and trucks over 25 years
ago, the aging piston engine aircraft fleet still uses lead.
These are mostly hobbyists and private planes, and aircraft for
emergency response, and flight schools. Sixteen million people
in the U.S., including 3 million children, live within 1
kilometer of an airport facility that uses avgas. Six hundred
schools are located within a half a kilometer. One study in
Michigan showed starkly how blood levels in children rise and
fall in close tandem with local air traffic patterns.
Despite this toxicity of lead, the Federal Aviation
Administration and EPA have not acted with the urgency to phase
lead out of aviation fuel. Viable unleaded alternatives have
existed globally since the 1980's and currently include our
witness, Chris D'Acosta's company's Fuel 94 UL, which is
approved for two-thirds of the piston engine aircraft and
common motor gas. Neither of these work for the whole fleet,
however. Our witness today, Mr. George Braly, has a fuel that
he says is commercially ready and can be used by the entire
fleet. Even though FAA engineers said that the fuel is safe,
FAA headquarters has not signed the last piece of paper.
For years, oil companies and aircraft interest groups have
worked together to prevent this fuel from getting FAA approval
and spread disinformation about its qualities. Industry groups
appear more concerned about disrupting business than about
kids. In a recent hearing, the head of Aircraft Owners and
Pilots expressed opposition to local bans on leaded avgas,
saying, ``We are concerned about the terrible precedent that
Santa Clara county in California has pursued by preventing the
sale with 100 low-lead planes at their two airports.'' However,
the FAA's public-private partnership to phaseout leaded fuel by
2030, the EAGLE Initiative, doesn't formally involve the
communities that are facing lead poisoning from aviation fuel.
The FAA must immediately commit to a faster timeline to
reach a lead-free aviation future. They should stop deferring
to powerful industry interests. They should help, rather than
obstruct, communities that want to ban leaded fuel and bring
innovative alternatives. The FAA just received $15 billion from
President Biden's infrastructure laws to improve airports. Why
not use a portion of that funding on new infrastructure for
unleaded fuel? The EPA also has a role to play by ruling as
soon as possible that leaded avgas is a danger to public health
and safety.
Quickly phasing out leaded aviation also fits with the
broader climate goals of the aviation industry to phaseout
fossil fuels by 2050 by making aviation cleaner and safer. The
FAA and EPA must not repeat past injustices and should instead
exhibit the leadership we need to repair mistakes and protect
kids and adults from these toxic fumes.
I now recognize Ranking Member Comer for an opening
Statement and any recognition.
Mr. Comer. Well, thank you, Chairman Khanna, and I want to
thank our witnesses today for joining us. I want to
congratulate our new ranking member of the subcommittee,
Congressman Yvette Herrell from New Mexico. She is a very
effective policymaker. She has moved up the chain very quickly
in Congress because she is very effective, she is prepared, and
I know that she will do a tremendous job leading this
subcommittee. I also want to thank Congressman Ralph Norman for
his service as the previous ranking member of the subcommittee.
So we look forward to great things from Congresswoman Herrell
in the future.
And, Mr. Chairman, I will yield back to you to where
Congresswoman Herrell can deliver the opening Statement.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you. Ranking Member Herrell?
Ms. Herrell. Thank you, Chairman Khanna. It is very
exciting to be here, and thank you, Ranking Member Comer. I
want to also thank the witnesses for appearing today, and I am
honored to participate in a subcommittee hearing for the first
time as ranking member, and I am excited to lead my Republican
colleagues on the subcommittee.
I would like to first thank Chairman Khanna for inviting
the administrators of the EPA and FAA to testify today on such
an important issue. Republicans have been calling on Democrats
to invite Biden administration witnesses for over a year and a
half so that we can conduct the important work of the Oversight
Committee and hold the Federal Government accountable to the
American people.
As Mr. Khanna correctly noted in his letter to EPA
Administrator Regan and FAA Acting Administrator Nolan, it is
unconscionable that each official refused to testify at today's
hearing. That is why I, along with Ranking Member Comer, called
upon Chairwoman Maloney to issue subpoenas to EPA and to the
FAA to compel their testimony. The American people deserve to
hear testimony from senior-level Biden administration
witnesses.
Mr. Chairman, I ask for unanimous consent to submit this
letter to Chairman Maloney into the record.
Mr. Khanna. Yes.
Ms. Herrell. I pledge to work with Chairman Khanna to
ensure that administration witnesses appear before us in the
future to answer our questions on behalf of our constituents.
General aviation is an important industry that serves many
purposes throughout the United States. In my home state of New
Mexico alone, the general aviation industry contributes
billions of dollars to the economy and supports tens of
thousands of jobs. General aviation aircraft connect small
towns across the country with the outside world, transporting
blood supplies, vital transplant organs, and other lifesaving
elements, and treat millions of acres of crop land each year.
The industry plays a vital role in the protection of our
environment by conducting wildfire surveys, patrolling
parklands, and mapping soil erosion and wetland losses. General
aviation aircraft also fight wildfires, mitigating their spread
into towns and saving millions of acres of land.
New Mexico is currently battling the largest recorded
wildfire in the state's history. Aerial firefighting has played
a critical role in its containment. The Hermit's Peak Cap
Canyon fire have burned over 340,000 acres of land and damaged
hundreds of buildings. Although I am encouraged that the fire
has reached a 95-percent containment level, I will continue to
advocate for relief assistance and work to ensure that New
Mexico is better prepared in the future. The people of New
Mexico are resilient, and we will get through this tough
chapter in our history.
The general aviation industry is in the middle of a
transition from leaded fuel to unleaded fuel, a transition that
the car industry made a few decades ago, as mentioned. The
exposure to lead can have devastating health effects on humans,
and this committee would be hard pressed to find someone who
did not want to find a solution to this complex problem.
Private companies are working toward this success. Swift Fuel
sells 94 unleaded fuel alternative to 100 leaded fuel that can
be used in over 60 percent of single-engine piston planes. I
would like to think Swift Fuel CEO Chris D'Acosta for appearing
as a witness today and for his company's commitment to finding
a replacement fuel for the entire fleet of single-engine piston
aircraft. The private sector will innovate as long as the
public sector removes red tape and helps implement the
transition.
I am grateful that the industry, relevant stakeholders, and
despite the refusal to testify today, the FAA are working
together to find a solution through the EAGLE Program. And with
that, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to today's
witnesses.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you, Ranking Member Herrell.
I ask unanimous consent that the gentlelady from
California, Representative Zoe Lofgren, be allowed to
participate in today's hearing and have an opening Statement.
Ms. Lofgren. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will be
brief. I want to first express my gratitude to you and the
ranking member for allowing me to participate. Reid-Hillview
Airport is located in the district I represent, and, of course,
the constituents who are being adversely impacted are also in
your district and in Congressman Panetta's district. I am
outraged, honestly, that the EPA and the FAA would refuse to
come and testify before you. Unfortunately, that is in keeping
with their lack of response to the letters and the
communications that we have directed toward them. It is
shocking and unacceptable that the administration would refuse
to engage in this serious health issue, and I am hoping that
this hearing will help us advance the cause of saving children
from the scourge of lead poisoning. And I yield back with
gratitude.
Mr. Khanna. Well, thank you, Representative Lofgren. Thank
you for your participation today and for your leadership on
this issue.
I would now like to introduce our panel of witnesses. Our
first witness will be Cindy Chavez, Santa Clara County
supervisor. Our second witness will be Maricela Lechuga, who is
a resident of San Jose. Our third witness will be Dr. Bruce
Lanphear, a professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser
University. Our fourth witness is Chris D'Acosta, CEO of Swift
Fuels. Our final witness will be George Braly, CEO of General
Aviation Modifications. Mr. Braly has a hard stop at 3:30.
The witnesses will be unmuted so we can swear them in.
Please raise your right hand.
Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to
give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?
[A chorus of ayes.]
Mr. Khanna. Let the record show that the witnesses answered
in the affirmative.
Without objection, your written Statements will be made
part of the record.
With that, Supervisor Chavez, you are recognized for your
testimony.
STATEMENT OF CINDY CHAVEZ, SUPERVISOR, COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA
Ms. Chavez. Thank you very, very much. I wanted to start
with just to say to Chairperson Khanna how really honored I am
to be joining you and, Ranking Member Herrell, at your first
meeting as ranking member--congratulations--to the committee
and to Congresswoman Lofgren.
We are here today because childhood lead exposure from lead
in aviation fuel we know is a national public health crisis.
The government mobilized over 40 years ago to ban lead paint.
It mobilized nearly 50 years ago to ban lead in automobile
fuel, but lead in aviation fuel remains virtually unregulated.
In fact, it is the Nation's last major unregulated source of
airborne lead. I know that my colleague, Maricela Lechuga, and
I'm so excited she's here with us, is going to talk more about
the community that is impacted, and I am going to talk a little
bit about how the County of Santa Clara is approaching this.
Reid-Hillview Airport and East San Jose is an important
example of the environmental injustices posed by leaded
aviation gas. Reid-Hillview is one of the highest lead-emitting
airports in the country, and it is of the most densely
populated neighborhoods of any airport in the Nation. In 2017,
Reid-Hillview was in the top 1.5 percent in annual lead
emissions out of all landing facilities in the national airport
system. It is located in the east side of San Jose, surrounded
by over 52,000 people and 13,000 children within 1.5 miles of
this airport.
Sadly, situations like Reid-Hillview are far too common.
Nationally, over 60 percent of the 50 highest-emitting airports
are located in communities with largely racial minority
populations than the national average. In absence of the
Federal Government taking action on leaded avgas, Santa Clara
County had no choice but to take action itself to better
understand the crisis and its impacts on our children and
families.
The board supervisors commissioned a study on the effects
of lead exposure from leaded avgas on the blood lead levels of
children in the neighborhood surrounding Reid-Hillview Airport.
The peer-reviewed study was conducted by Dr. Sammy Zuron, a
leading expert in lead exposure. The study examined over
300,000 blood lead-level tests from children living in the
neighborhood surrounding Reid-Hillview Airport. Among sample
children less than half a mile from Reid-Hillview, there was an
increase in blood lead levels twice as high as the increase
caused by the Flint system failures during the height of the
Flint, Michigan water crisis.
But this situation is not like Flint because there is no
way to stop lead exposure from avgas without Federal Government
action. Our residents in east San Jose live with this exposure
day after day, and they have for over 80 years. It is important
to note the study found a clear correlation between the sale of
leaded avgas at Reid-Hillview Airport and elevated lead blood
lead levels in children in east San Jose. The results are
consistent with multiple studies done across this country.
With these facts in hand, we had a duty to protect children
in our community. On January 1st, Santa Clara County became the
first airport operator in the country to fully transition to
the sale of unleaded gas at our airports. The transition has
provided immediate protection to surrounding communities,
preventing the emission of hundreds of pounds of lead in the
air in just six months. Aircraft operators are using the
unleaded avgas available, even though they have the option to
fill up with leaded avgas elsewhere. In the six months since
the transition, fuel vendors at Reid-Hillview have sold 90
percent as much leaded avgas as they sold in the first six
months of 2021.
Santa Clara County's transition virtually had no impact on
airport operations. The total operations at Reid-Hillview are
actually up by four percent in the first six months of 2020
relative to 2022. There has not been a single incident, a
safety incident, related to the unleaded avgas reported in the
past seven months. While the county maintains an emergency
protocol for aircraft operators who need access to leaded fuel,
the county has received zero requests to access it.
Tragically, there are aviation industry interests who have
submitted complaints to the FAA seeking to force the county to
sell leaded avgas. The FAA for its part has initiated an
investigation into the county. Any attempt by the FAA to compel
the county to sell leaded avgas would be morally reprehensible.
We cannot turn a blind eye to the facts, and the facts are that
our children are being poisoned, plain and simple.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you, Supervisor Chavez. Ms. Lechuga, you
are now recognized.
STATEMENT OF MARICELA LECHUGA, RESIDENT, REID-HILLVIEW AIRPORT
BUFFER ZONE
Ms. Lechuga. Dear Honorable Chairman Khanna, Ranking Member
Herrell, and member of the Subcommittee on the Environment. My
name is Maricela Lechuga. I live five blocks away from the
Reid-Hillview Airport. I have 3 siblings and about 30 first
cousins just on my mom's side, and we mostly all grew up in
this area. It's not a coincidence that roots of East San Jose
are deep with Mexican-American families like mine as well as
newly arrived immigrants from all over the world. In the
1940's, when my grandfather, Gustavo Perez, arrived in San Jose
as a bracero, there was only one area in the city that welcomed
him to make a home. East San Jose was reserved for the
undesirable class of Mexican peons like him and global labor
leader, Cesar Chavez.
A 1937 official area description of the neighborhood below
the flight path of what is now Reid-Hillview Airport described
it as extremely undesirable from a racial standpoint as it had
the largest concentration of Mexicans in the community, as well
as Italians and Portuguese of a lower social stratum. In 1939,
the airport was relocated to its current location where planes
continue to fly over a community that is predominantly Latino
and immigrant. Within the 1.5 mile area surrounding the
airport, 61 percent of the population is Latino. Seventy-nine
percent of residents primarily speak a language other than
English at home.
It's also densely populated. The area is home to
approximately 52,000 residents, including 12,800 children, and
21 schools and childcare centers. While redlining was
officially in effect between 1936 and 1939, we know how racism
continued to influence land use decisions well after that,
especially before the Voting Rights Act when our community's
political voice was completely washed out by at-large
elections. It wasn't until 1978 that East San Jose residents
had the opportunity to vote for a city council member from a
pool of candidates living within our district. The
councilmember's name was Blanca Alvarado. Happy birthday,
Blanca. She happens to be turning 91 years old today.
Land use decisions of the past continue to influence all
aspects of our everyday lives, from the quality education we
receive to the air we breathe. Studies show that Latinos,
recent immigrants, and low-income communities in the U.S. are
far more likely to live, play, and work in places that expose
us to toxic chemicals, including lead, increasing our risk for
cancer and other serious health conditions. For decades, the
planes from the Reid-Hillview Airport have used lead-based
fuel, poisoning our neighborhood. In 2021, a Mountain Data
Group study confirmed that those closest to the airport
experience a lead increase in excess of what the children in
Flint, Michigan, experienced during the Flint water crisis.
No amount of lead is safe. Airborne lead exposure is a
literal injustice that seeps into our bodies through our lungs
into our bloodstream and bones, where it becomes unextractable.
As a woman in childbearing age, I should not have to worry
about how the lead in my bones might impact a future pregnancy
or health of the baby. I happen to be an attorney, but I hate
that I have to be an exception amongst family and neighbors,
many of which struggled in school and opted for vocational
training as opposed to higher education.
Families and teachers should not have to wonder whether
lead exposure is to blame for a child's learning or behavior
issues. Children, kids should not have to play in the hot sun
and experience nosebleeds from the dry hot air. We have
requested trees for shade, but pilots need fields clear in case
of emergency landings. The Little League baseball fields were
closed because pilots refused to use unleaded fuel. Instead of
a rose garden, like the white neighborhood has, we got a lead
garden. Our children are just as worthy as the children living
in more affluent neighborhoods, and we also deserve roses.
In the words of the wise poet, Amanda Gorman, ``Being
American is more than the pride we inherit. It is the past we
step into and how we repair it.'' This is the chance for
Congress to help right a historical wrong by banning the use of
lead-based fuel and allowing us to close the Reid-Hillview
Airport to repurpose the land in a way that will repair the
injuries committed against East San Jose families. Thank you.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you. Thank you for that moving testimony.
I have been informed that votes have been called. To
accommodate members voting, the committee will take a short
recess. We just have one vote, and so we can reconvene
approximately at 3 p.m., and that would give everyone a chance
to cast their vote.
The committee stands in recess.
[Recess.]
Mr. Khanna. The committee is reconvened. I appreciate the
witnesses' patience. We had an important vote, actually a vote
on the CHIPS bill to fund a lot of the semiconductor
manufacturing. We may have one more vote coming up. It is
unclear, but I wanted to at least get the committee's testimony
to proceed because I know you all have been very patient, so I
appreciate that.
So why don't I recognize Dr. Lanphear? You are recognized
for your five-minute testimony.
STATEMENT OF BRUCE LANPHEAR, M.D., MPH, PROFESSOR OF HEALTH
SCIENCES, SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
Dr. Lanphear. Thank you very much. It's an honor to
participate on this panel and in this hearing. I'm a physician
with expertise in public health. I've conducted studies on the
sources of lead exposure and the health impacts of lead
poisoning for over 25 years. I've served on science advisory
committees in the EPA, the CDC, NIH, and the American Academy
of Pediatrics.
Lead is a cumulative poison. Children, especially low-
income children in minority communities, are often heavily
exposed to lead from paint and house dust in older, poorly
maintained rental housing, soil in smelter communities, lead
service lines, and aircraft emissions. Hundreds of studies have
shown that exceedingly low levels of lead diminish children's
reading abilities and cognitive abilities. What is more
striking, for a given exposure, the decrements in reading and
intellectual abilities are larger at the lowest measurable
levels. This video that you will see, which measured lead in
parts per billion, shows how lead harms children's brains.
Hopefully, the video is playing.
[Video shown.]
Lead-associated IQ deficits extend beyond childhood.
Children with higher blood lead levels were less likely to
achieve the same social standing as their parents. Let's go to
the next.
[Video shown.]
Let's go to the next slide. Lead increases a child's risk
of developing ADHD. In a national study, we found that the
fraction of children with ADHD increased from 5 to 13 percent
as blood lead levels increased. One in 5 cases of ADHD in
American children, representing 600,000 children, were due to
lead exposure.
Next slide.
In 2013, the EPA concluded that lead is a causal risk
factor for coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death
worldwide. Fifteen studies conducted in the United States and
Europe all showed that lead increased the risk of heart
disease.
Next slide.
[Video shown.]
Next slide.
We're going to go quickly here. Airborne lead increases
children's blood lead levels beginning at the lowest measurable
levels and well below .15 microgram per cubic meter, the EPA's
existing air lead standard. The EPA estimated that over 450
tons of lead were emitted by piston engine aircraft every year,
70 percent of all lead emissions.
Next slide.
We can see that lead particles from aircraft exhaust are
exquisitely small, small enough to go directly up the olfactory
nerve into the brain.
Next slide.
I want to just show a couple quick slides of the Reid-
Hillview Airport study.
Next slide.
Here you can see as air traffic increased, we see
children's blood lead levels increase, but only for those
children who live near the airport.
Next slide.
We can also see that as the number of risk factors for
children increase, we can see that the percent of children that
exceed 3.5 microgram per deciliter, the action level set by
CDC, the percent of children increases sharply from 2 percent
of children in the study to 5.7 percent who live near the
airport, and up to 13.9 percent who live near the airport
during maximum traffic, who live downwind and our lower SES.
Next slide.
In summary, we can say that low-level lead poisoning is a
major risk factor for cognitive deficits, ADHD, and coronary
heart disease in Americans, affecting children and adults. And
lead exposure from aircraft emissions is a major source of lead
exposure for the 16 million people who live near airports. The
recent report on Reid-Hillview Airport has confirmed that lead
exposure from aircraft emissions is an urgent public health
problem. Fortunately, lead poisoning is preventable.
Thank you.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you. Thank you for that powerful
presentation, and I want to recognize Mr. Braly. I know you
have to leave at 3:30. So, Mr. Braly, you are recognized.
[No response.]
Mr. Khanna. Mr. Braly, I think you have to unmute.
Mr. Braly. Testing. OK.
STATEMENT OF GEORGE BRALY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GENERAL
AVIATION MODIFICATIONS
Mr. Braly. My name is George Braly. I'm an aerospace
engineer. We operate a very high technology, but small
aerospace engineering company in Oklahoma. And we decided we
had the capability and the infrastructure with one of the
world's state-of-the-art engine test facilities, and after
watching the frustration of no solution for 20 years, we
decided in 2009 to tackle the problem and see if we could find
a solution. We adopted a historically, fairly common scientific
approach to the problem that had not been followed previously,
and, frankly, within a matter of months, we had a workable
solution. And we started in to get it approved by the Federal
Aviation Administration.
That has been an exercise in enormous frustration. However,
after over 12 years of effort, enormous amounts of
certification activity involving over 100--and I'm not
kidding--over 100 senior-level FAA engineers and managers, last
March, the Wichita Aircraft Certification Regional Office, or
branch office, their certification team, which has more
experience certifying fuels than every other FAA aircraft
office in the country put together, everybody else put
together, they made a finding, sent us an email saying that we
had completed all of the regulatory requirements to authorize
the issuance of Federal Aviation Administration Approved Model
List supplemental type certificates that cover all of the spark
ignition piston engines in the FAA's data base. That is every
single, without exception, aircraft piston engines, spark
ignition piston engine, and the associated aircraft in the
United States, and they were simply waiting on permission from
headquarters to do something really hard: pick up a ballpoint
pen and put a signature on a piece of paper.
Yes, go ahead. I mean, laugh. I mean, I laugh with you, but
it's just amazing the bureaucratic mumbo jumbo that has gone on
since March the 4th. Literally, I can't imagine how
embarrassing this ought to be to somebody responsible in the
FAA. Every single day for, I believe, the last 147 days, the
FAA has been in defiance of its own regulations, which require
them to sign and issue their certificates. And with respect to
the chairman and the Members of Congress, in 2018, you have
passed an act, and that act mandated, ordered, directed the FAA
to sign and deliver those certificates when all of the required
certification matters had been accomplished.
The emails we have from the FAA Regional Office in Wichita
says we have done that. So they are not only in defiance of
their, you know, Administrative Procedures Act regulatory
requirements to sign and hand us those certificates, they are
actually in defiance of Congress. And Congress can hold them in
contempt from that.
And this a complete solution. If those certificates had
been signed in March as the law required them to be signed, I
feel fairly confident that by some time in the month of August
or the month of September, there would be railroad cars of high
octane unleaded aviation gasoline in California going to
airports like Reid-Hillview, and San Martin, and the flight
school in Bakersfield, and, you know, Robinson Helicopter in
Los Angeles, which is at risk of losing their production if 100
low lead is banned in Los Angeles. It is not a solution in 8,
or 9, or 10 years, like the FAA has proposed to spend another
$115 million taxpayer dollars if they can talk Congress into
funding a search for a solution to a problem for which the
solution has already been found and approved by the cognizant
FAA engineers.
One very senior FAA engineer that was involved in the
whistleblowing on the 737 Max project made the observation that
the 737 Max problem happened because FAA management was not
listening to their engineers. Well, this is exactly the same
problem. FAA management is not listening to their highly
experienced engineers that have told them this project is ready
for signature.
Mr. Chairman, I thank you for your patience and your close
attention.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you so much, Mr. Braly. Now I would like
to recognize Mr. D'Acosta.
STATEMENT OF CHRIS D'ACOSTA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SWIFT
FUELS
Mr. D'Costa. Thank you, Chairman Khanna and Ranking Member
Herrell. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to
be here today. My name is Chris D'Acosta. I serve as CEO of
Swift Fuels, LLC, which a privately held firm that's based in
West Lafayette, Indiana, in the Purdue Research Park there. I
was raised in Texas. I graduated from Texas Tech. I worked and
traveled, really, over the world over a number of years. All of
my experience the last 42 years is in the oil and gas industry,
and I came to Swift Fuels in 2012 as CEO, so I have been there
just over 10 years.
At Swift Fuels, our firm specializes in developing and
commercializing fuels and fuel process technologies to resolve
critical challenges that typically arise in the oil, gas, and
chemical industry. Regarding 100 low leaded aviation gasoline
used in piston aircrafts, Swift is the chief architect and the
sole provider of UL 94 unleaded avgas, today used across the
United States, which is FAA approved with ASTM International
certification of the Fuel D7547, and OEM endorsement from a
number of the major air frame and engine providers, allowing it
to serve more than 68 percent of the U.S. fleet, soon to be 75
percent of the U.S. fleet.
My firm is also working to provide the full fleet-wide
replacement to remove toxic lead from avgas in the months
ahead. We have been working on that diligently for over two
years in earnest, and that product will be 100 motor octane
fuel with a 10 percent renewable component. It will be clean
burning and cost-effective for the U.S. fleet.
So, you know, what can be done to streamline and accelerate
the progress? Swift Fuels is actively working full throttle
with the Proprietary Certification Program for 100 octane
replacement of low lead. We collaborate daily with the FAA.
There are no obstacles, there are no obstructions from our
ability to deliver on projects on specific work. We have a
large number of active people and experts that are not just FAA
experts, they are oil and gas industry experts, they are OEM,
you know, engine and airframe experts that are all working
together on what I would consider state-of-the-art processing
technologies that are going to make the fuel resilient in the
marketplace across America and the rest of the world where
leaded fuel is used. So our methods are unique, and
proprietary, and, you know, robust to say the least. That is
our intent as we deliver our fuel.
In the last, I guess, five months, the industry announced
the organization called EAGLE, which was directed by Steve
Dixon, at the time, the head of the FAA, in collaboration with
Pete Bunce from Gamma and Mark Baker from AOPA, with the intent
to lay out a plan, timetable, or, I would call it, a worst-case
time line to 2030 where unleaded fuel would be addressed. What
drove that timeline was the congressional mandate on public
communication with, you know, with communities about how the
lead endangerment would work. So in my mind, that is a worst-
case scenario timeline.
Swift Fuels is working toward a three-year timeline for
full fleet-wide approval of our highest octane fuel. In the
meantime, UL 94 was implemented in 2015, and I want to thank
Cindy Chavez and her kind comments a few minutes ago regarding
the fact that we worked diligently to get unleaded avgas to
fully replace low-lead at Reid-Hillview when they made that
decision. And we did that in an environment where there was
wildfires, supply chain disruptions, still impacts from COVID
with a lot of shortages of labor. And we were still able to
fully replace low lead, you know, virtually overnight. You
know, there were airports that held out until the end of the
calendar year, but since that time--not airports--FBOs that had
held out to the end of the calendar year. But anyway, we have
fully replaced all the leaded fuel of that airport, and it has
been very successful. There are four flight schools at those
four FBOs. They are all actively using our fuel, and it is
serving its purpose.
So pilots, the reason they value our fuel is because it is
a premium quality product, and, you know, communities love it
because it doesn't have toxic lead. And I appreciate the
comments also that Ms. Lechuga also mentioned. We have strong
ties to the Latin community. You know, we are passionate,
working with people all over the world from a missional
standpoint to try to serve the needs of, let's call it, the
impoverished and people that are maybe not as advantage as
others. So that is a core in my heart. But our fuel is out
there. It is actively being used. As a matter of fact,
yesterday the University of North Dakota announced in a public
press release that they have made the decision to convert all
their flight training fleet, more than 150 airplanes, to
unleaded 94.
So thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak, and I
am happy to answer any question.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you very much. I now recognize myself for
five minutes of questions.
The Reid-Hillview Airport near my district in California is
the 25th-highest lead-polluting airport in the country. It is
an overwhelmingly Latino community. Ninety-seven percent of
people living near the airport identified as non-white, and 79
percent primarily speak a language other than English at home.
Supervisor Chavez, would you say that lead in aviation fuel is
an environmental justice issue?
Ms. Chavez. I think, as evidenced by, frankly, by the 80
years of inaction, really yes. And, you know, one thing, and I
just wanted to acknowledge what Ms. Lechuga said, is that we
are already in an area that has a high level of Alzheimer's
disease, a high level of heart disease, high level of cancer.
And so when you add lead onto a community that is already
struggling and suffering, what you get is a community that
really, under the weight of all of these externalities, is
really being crushed. And this is an opportunity really to be
part of dismantling what has taken generations just to push
this community down.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you, Supervisor Chavez. Ms. Lechuga, do
you feel your community has historically received the concern
and action it has deserved on aviation fuel?
Ms. Lechuga. No, I think we have not. This is a clear
injustice against our community. You know, when my grandfather
was bracero, he was sprayed with DDT pesticides and suffered
Alzheimer's in his later years as a result. Similarly, our
community is continuing to be sprayed with toxic chemicals, and
unless we make noise about it nobody's going to care.
Mr. Khanna. Currently, the most widely used fuel for piston
engine aircraft contains tetraethyllead, a compound containing
lead that increases a fuel's octane level and prevents engine
damage and failure. The FAA and Environmental Protection Agency
have delayed phasing out lead avgas for decades. Viable
alternatives have existed globally since the 1980's, but most
of them aren't acceptable to roughly 30 percent of piston
engine planes that need high-octane fuel. Our witness, Mr.
George Braly, says he has developed just that. Mr. Braly, how
many engineering reviews has FAA completed for your fuel?
[No response.]
Mr. Khanna. Mr. Braly, you have to just unmute.
Mr. Braly. Yes. Prior to two years ago, we had gone through
approximately seven complete high-level reviews of the status
of the project and where we were that involved almost every
single senior FAA engineer manager and director of various ones
of the Aircraft Engine Power Directorate and the Aircraft
Directorate. And then just in the last four months, five
months, well, since December, we have gone through five more.
And, you know, it is a review, of a review, of a review, of a
review, on and on and on. Clearly, there is some reason why
they won't simply allow the Wichita manager to pick up the
ballpoint pen and sign their certificates that are printed and
sitting on his desk waiting for a signature. He could literally
sign them today and drop them in the mail or PDF them and email
them to them.
And tomorrow we have large, capable refinery producers that
have been in touch with us diligently over the last year. For
instance, one of them happens to be Exxon, and they are
prepared to start shipping us components, literally, two weeks
from today to make finished fuel with. This is not a giant
mystery. Not hard. It is easy. We can do it. All we need is a
pair of signatures.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you, Mr. Braly. Supervisor Chavez, the
FAA is currently working with the county on a permanent ban on
leaded fuel at Reid-Hillview Airport. You led the supervisors
to pass a unanimous resolution on this. What recommendations do
you have for the FAA for how they should work with communities
choked by toxic lead emissions, and what they should be doing
with Reid-Hillview?
Ms. Chavez. Thank you for that question. I will say that
the FAA came out to meet with the county a few months ago to
look at how Reid-Hillview could be a pilot project. And I think
one of the things that we really need is that we need the FAA
to affirm the ability for local agencies to promote access to
unleaded fuels, really by prohibiting them. That would be
significant. And then we would like the FAA to provide
resources for agencies seeking to expand their infrastructure
and availability of unleaded fuels, and that way we can
mitigate the harms of leaded avgas. They should prioritize the
development and certification potential unleaded fuel that
could replace leaded avgas on the market.
And, you know, there are solutions, as you heard from Mr.
Braly and from Mr. D'Acosta, that exist today that really just
need a little more support to be available for aviation, you
know, regional airports across the country. And so given what
we know, the real question in my mind is how do we move quickly
because we know what the harms are, and we actually have
available solutions right now. How fast can we move?
Mr. Khanna. Thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Chavez. I now
recognize Ranking Member Herrell.
Ms. Herrell. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to ask for
unanimous consent to enter into the written testimony today
from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
Mr. Khanna. Sure.
Ms. Herrell. Thank you.
Ms. Herrell. And thank you to the witnesses. I mean, just
hearing different stories, different approaches on this. And I
know, Mr. Braly, you must be so frustrated to not be able to
see those signatures come fast enough.
I want to go to Mr. D'Acosta, and you kind of touched on
this, but what is the most difficult hurdle in finding an
unleaded alternative to the 100 low lead fuel?
Mr. D'Acosta. Well, it requires much more than just FAA
certification. It requires industry collaboration, ASTM
International consensus, which is a body of probably about 150
people that represent all the major oil companies, engine and
airframe OEMs, and other major constituents of fuel around the
world, not just U.S. That group is very, very critical as well
as the OEMs themselves who care about their engine warranties
and things of that nature. It requires the consensus of all
those groups. It is not just an FAA certificate requirement.
Ms. Herrell. So, you know, it is obviously a very robust
process, so to bring all the players----
Mr. D'Acosta. Just if I may clarify that, UL 94 has all
those.
Ms. Herrell. OK. And just to kind of give everybody kind of
a mental mindset of this, I mean, if you got all the players to
the table and you got all the stakeholders there, what is the
timeline on that certification process? I mean, are you going
to be stonewalled, do you think, or do you think there is an
appetite to move quickly on this?
Mr. D'Acosta. Ma'am, are you asking me?
Ms. Herrell. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes, sir.
Mr. D'Acosta. Yes. I would tell you I use the words ``we
are working full throttle.'' We are working toward having our
100 octane fuel being ready to deploy by middle of next year,
2023, and then going through a transition period that will
probably take 1 to 2 years before all the fleet-wide airplanes
are in a position to use it at every single airport. There are
19,000 or so, you know, landing points around the country. It
is a rather involved thing, but we are working with all the
major distributors that are willing to step up and do their
part. So we believe that we can manage an orderly transition to
a lot of places, yes, ma'am.
Ms. Herrell. And then I just want to kind of stay on this
vein for a moment, Mr. D'Acosta. It is resource intensive. I
get that. What conversations are you having, or have there been
any in terms of what would it be like to try to retrofit every
general aviation airport with the needed tanks and equipment
for drop-in fuel replacement? Have those conversations taking
place?
Mr. D'Acosta. Well, we are not trying to retrofit any
tanks. You know, the infrastructure of the airports stands
currently with the low lead fuel. There may be some airports
that have, I don't know for certain. They might have inferior
tanks. You know, there has been work on something called
leaking underground storage tanks which has been regulated by
the EPA for a long time, and everybody has got to shore up
their tanks. And there is a preference to get rid of
underground storage tanks, preferring above-ground storage
tanks.
So, you know, things can be done like that are really not
in the purview of any of the people that I talk to other than
the airports that have their own duty and responsibility to
make those kind of improvements happen. Those could be
accelerated. Those could be heightened in terms of, you know,
care and concern. You know, somebody mentioned earlier there
are 50 communities that have struggles with lead emissions, you
know. We could choose a list of 5 or 10 or 50 and say, hey, we
want to focus on those. We could do that, but what we don't
want to do is throw into jeopardy full momentum toward getting
a fleet-wide solution for every single airport, not just a
subset, you know?
Ms. Herrell. Right.
Mr. D'Acosta. So if we can do things simultaneously, that
is fine if we have the resources and personnel to do it. It has
challenging, you know. Some of the Federal Government agencies,
they have been understaffed, partly because of COVID and
retirements. Our investors have augmented that with specialty
contractors and involving people at different jurisdictions
around the country to help expedite things. So, you know,
private investors are making up for the shortfall to make sure
that we can get all this done.
Ms. Herrell. That is great, Mr. D'Acosta. I think everybody
is at the same place in terms of understanding the importance
of this and wanting to find swift resolution in terms of any
kind of retrofit and everything. It is a case-by-case, airport-
by-airport kind of a situation. And then just one final
question for you. Are you confident that there will be a single
option to fully eliminate leaded fuel by FAA's Stated goal of
2030?
Mr. D'Acosta. Yes. Yes, ma'am.
Ms. Herrell. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I
just want to say hi to the students that are here listening
today. Thank you for joining us.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you. Representative Tlaib?
Ms. Tlaib. Thank you so much, Chairman Khanna, for holding
this incredible hearing. I am actually learning for the first
time how our country is in the middle of a lead crisis. I
always think of water. I think of Flint. I think of my
communities in Detroit as well as some Western Wayne
communities that are impacted by lead-contaminated pipelines.
But, you know, bringing attention to this is incredibly
important, you know. We started a bipartisan Get the Lead Out
Caucus with Congressman Myer, of course my good colleague from
Michigan, Dingell, and, of course, Lisa Blunt Rochester,
because I think we need to move with more urgency in regards to
this.
While lead pipes and paint are well-known contributors to
this mass poisoning of the American people, especially our
children, leaded aviation fuel is not. So I want folks,
especially in Southeastern Michigan, to know this. This is a
wake-up call. I actually looked this up because of this
committee hearing, Chairman, so thank you. I found out that the
Detroit City Airport, Willow Run, Ann Arbor's Municipal and
Oakland Troy Airports are just some of the local airports using
leaded fuel. When planes from these airports fly over our
communities, they are crop dusting our neighborhoods with lead
poisoned air. I know folks don't want to think of it that way,
but it is. It is happening. But one of the interesting things
about this is the impact on especially children. There was a
study published, and the University of Chicago found that blood
lead levels are higher among children closer to airports and
flight paths of aircraft. I know one of our folks testified to
this.
You know, Dr. Lanphear, I used to actually say to people no
amount of lead is safe. They would say a little bit amount of
lead, but I know now and more folks know now more than ever
that no amount of lead is safe. Can you talk to us what it
really means because FAA plans to phaseout lead aviation gas by
2030, but that simply isn't fast enough. So our children are
already being poisoned now. I have read that it can stay in
their DNA. It cannot only impact how they learn, but really how
they thrive in other kinds of cases. And I even heard how it
impacts pregnant women, Chairman. And so Dr. Lanphear, can you
talk about out how urgently we should be moving, and what are
some of the direct impacts? I mean, you talked about it a
little bit in the slide, but I think people need to know some
of the things that you found out looking at this more
carefully.
Dr. Lanphear. Yes. Thank you for the question. We have seen
from NASCAR studies, we have seen from other studies that if
you take lead out of gasoline, within a year, you see a decline
in preterm births. You see a decline in cardiac events. So we
know that these have dramatic impact. If you think about the
impact on children, it is lifelong, so each gallon of gas has
been estimated to lead to $10 downstream costs on children's
lifetime earnings--$10 per gallon. So these have huge ripple
effects, starting with preterm births, going on to learning
problems in school, down to behavior problems. It is so wide
reaching that it is an absolutely urgent problem.
Ms. Tlaib. You know, Supervisor Chavez, I do not envy you.
I read that the Reid-Hillview Airport was the 34th highest
emitter of lead in 2022. I am sure you heard from the
residents. You know, folks don't get to study this but, you
know, I hear about nasal cancer in my district now and all
these respiratory issues, and folks have never heard of these
things, never been in their family. And I am wondering if you
could take some time, you know. I know as soon as the county
discovered the lead exposure among children living in that
area, that the airport was comparable to Flint, Michigan, and
the county immediately banned the use of lead aviation gas at
its airport. Can you talk about what your residents told you?
Ms. Chavez. Yes. Thank you so much, Congressmember, for the
question. You know, our community has been crying out for years
for us to do something swift to protect them. And what happened
is that we brought a vote to our board to stop accepting
airport improvement grants so that, in fact, we could close
Reid-Hillview Airport by 2031. And what happened out of that
was that a number of the pilots said to us, look, we don't
really think that lead is as significant an issue as you think
it is, and the EPA studies weren't specific enough. So that is
why we invested in our own local study to be able to determine
whether or not lead was actually impacting the health of our
community.
So what we learned was the answer to that was, yes, that if
you live close or you are downwind, you are going to get a
higher level of lead. And as Dr. Lanphear so elegantly
explained to us, what are all the impacts that happened to our
communities. After that study came out, I really cannot tell
you the number of people who live in that area who came to me
and asked whether or not miscarriages or developmental
disabilities in their children could be attributed to that.
What that told me is that generations of people have been
seeing poor health outcomes, and they wanted to know how much
it was connected to lead. So the study was critical because
what it helped us understand is what we can do at a local level
to protect our communities, and that we did by banning leaded
gas sales at our airports.
Ms. Tlaib. Thank you, Chairman. I yield.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you. I want to formally thank Mr. Braly
and excuse him. I know he had a prior commitment, so thank you,
Mr. Braly. And I now want to recognize Representative Fallon.
Mr. Fallon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Witnesses and
colleagues, thanks again for being here today and discussing
the lack of transparency our current administration is
displaying and the need for the private sector take the lead on
and innovating our aviation industry. I would like to second
the chairman's remarks in stating that this is unconscionable
for this administration to ignore an entire branch of
government by refusing to allow Cabinet-level witnesses--EPA,
FAA, that kind of thing--to testify today. Despite Mr. Biden's
promises of transparency and despite the committee's request,
we have yet to even have one cabinet-level witness attend any
oversight committee hearings this year. The American public
deserves access not only to this institution, the People's
House, but also their chief executive branch, and we need to
hold Mr. Biden up to his promises during the campaign of
transparency and show some respect to a co-equal branch of
government, and, more importantly, show some respect to the
American people. Even though we do lack critical insight from
the heads of the FAA and the EPA, I believe we have had a
really constructive hearing today, so I do thank all for being
here.
Mr. D'Acosta, I am aware that the FAA convened an aviation
rulemaking committee in 2012 that brought about no results in
terms of identifying a viable alternative to low-lead 100. In
2013, they launched the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative,
which, again, resulted in little actionable items and no fleet-
wide unleaded avgas alternatives. Then earlier this year, the
FAA, EPA, and a litany of private stakeholders convened the
Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions, or EAGLE
initiative--that is, as far as I know--and ongoing cooperation
with the private sector in search for alternatives to leaded
fuel.
Mr. D'Acosta, can you tell us more about the Swift Fuel's
role in these FAA initiatives?
Mr. D'Acosta. So the PATHE structure that you described
which ran from 2014 to 2018, a five-year program, there were 17
applicants, or 17 fuel formulas, brought forward. They down
selected four. Two of those were from Swift, then they down
selected two. One was from Swift. And the program was entirely
FAA driven, which ensued some of the challenges because you are
dealing with people that is not their core thing. And, you
know, they did their best. They really architected some
tremendous, insightful ideas and concepts, but it didn't
fulfill what it should have fulfilled, which is why it ended,
and now it has morphed into something else.
So what happened from that from a Swift Fuel standpoint is
we took our learnings from that experience, and we have
basically stepped away from PATHE, and we put it into an
industrial program of our own, still with entire FAA
involvement and oversight. They have to approve everything that
you do, the FAA does, but that it is business driven. It is not
FAA driven. So we have designated FAA participants. We have
designated OEMs, like, you know, engine OEMs, like Licome, and
Textron, and other people that are forming in various factions
here to make sure their perspectives are brought into the deal.
So we call it an enhanced PATHE, OEM-endorsed, robust test plan
that is signed by the FAA as we go down this path, so that when
we get to the end, everybody in industry that I mentioned a few
minutes ago endorses that outcome. And that is unique. There is
no one else that is doing that. Swift Fuels.
Mr. Fallon. And, sir, just two quick questions during the
time we have remaining. Do you believe the Federal Government
needs to be involved in researching and developing a fleet-wide
replacement for leaded avgas? And the second is, what
alternatives to leaded avgas are currently in production and
available to consumers?
Mr. D'Acosta. Did you ask the FAA? The Federal Government
is interested in all sorts of research concepts, which is, I
guess, their privy, but really the research comes from
industry. So if the engine makers come up with a new way to do
engine processing that is more efficient and maybe requires
less octane, then we all benefit from that. If the FAA or if
the regulators want to play some role there, that is fine, but
most of the creative engineering comes not from the regulatory
body. It comes from the entrepreneurs that are in industry.
And the FAA wants to participate in that, and that is fine,
and EAGLE has an R&D phase or component platform that they
envision, but that is because they are tied to the industry
gamut. General aviation manufacturers is where all those
industrial players are. They are part of the trade association.
They have all sorts of ideas that have been discussed for the
time, you know, as possible additional features above and
beyond just the fuel.
Mr. Fallon. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I yield back.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you. I would know like to recognize
Representative Zoe Lofgren.
Ms. Lofgren. Thank you Mr. Chairman, and, once again,
thanks to the subcommittee for allowing me to sit in and
participate. It is very important to our community, as you have
heard from our witnesses. And I would just like to thank
Maricela Lechuga for her wonderful testimony, her commitment to
her children, to her neighbors, and to her community, for
standing up for them. It is very important. And certainly,
Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who is just a champion for children,
not only in the case of trying to keep lead out of their blood
and keeping them from being poisoned, but in so many other ways
in her public service. There is no one that I can think of in
local government who has done more for the children of our
community than Cindy Chavez. So thank you also for your
testimony.
I would like to ask one question of Professor Lanphear.
Supervisor Chavez has entered into the record the blood level
study that has been discussed, and it was a shocking thing. I
read the whole thing, and you can see the impact of the aerosol
lead on these children. I mean, the closer you are, and if
there was COVID, and there were less flights, I mean, it was
compelling, and it was terrifying, frankly. There was another
study done about whether there was lead in the soil, and that
came up with a negative finding. And I had a scientist tell me,
well, the two are not inconsistent because the aerosols are
floating in the air and being inhaled by the children. That
doesn't necessarily mean you would have a buildup in the soil.
Do you concur with that?
Dr. Lanphear. Well, you can have both. What we can say
going back to the studies that were done when leaded gasoline
for cars was being used is that probably about 30 to 40 percent
of the exposure the community experienced was from inhalation.
Much of what drives the higher exposure to toddlers are the
mouthing behaviors, where they contaminate leaded dust that
settles in their home.
Ms. Lofgren. Right.
Dr. Lanphear. So it is really a combination of inhalation
and exposure, ingestion from contaminated dust. You are also
going to see contaminated lead in the soil, but it may not be
so striking, for example, that you would see it like in a
smelter community.
Ms. Lofgren. Correct. Well, I just want to say that this is
an important hearing, and the idea that we would continue to
poison the children in East San Jose for another 5 or 6 years
is completely unacceptable.
I would like to ask unanimous consent to put into the
record a couple of pieces of information that I think are key.
First, a letter sent in December 2021 from the FAA to the
county after the county acted to ban the sale of leaded fuel. I
mean, they own the airport. They own, you know, the tanks with
the fuel, basically threatening them, telling them they had to
continue to sell and poison these children--outrageous--along
with the letter that the county sent in return.
I would like to also put in the record a letter sent
February of this year by all four members who represent Santa
Clara County--Mr. Khanna, myself, Mr. Panetta, and Anna Eshoo--
to the Secretary of Transportation. He never answered the
letter. I would like to note also that we tried to call the
Secretary of Transportation, the four of us, and he refused to
take our phone call.
Ms. Lofgren. I would just like to say the idea that this
administration would try and force the county to poison
children is outrageous. It is outrageous, and it really needs
to stop. We also need to do a nationwide transferal of for non-
leaded gas, because right now the county is selling unleaded
gas, but you can fuel up in another our airport and land in.
So, yes, we need to do nationwide, but we need to protect the
children of East San Jose right away.
And I thank you so much, the chair and the ranking member,
for holding this hearing, and hopefully we will get some action
from this administration that has been sorely lacking and
reinforced when they even refuse to send people to testify here
today. Such a disappointment. Not what I expect from this
administration.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you, Representative Lofgren, and thank
you again, which is evident, for your passion on this issue and
for the children in your district for decades, and your fight
on this. I appreciate very much your leadership.
I now want to recognize Representative Flood for
questioning.
Mr. Flood. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members. Mr. D'Acosta,
thank you for joining us today.
I think it is important to remember that single-engine
piston planes are used for more than just passenger flight.
Crop dusters, commonly used on farms across the country, like
the AT 802, are also single-engine piston planes, and there are
a lot of agricultural applications that are performed by these
planes across the state of Nebraska. If we are serious about
addressing the issue, we do need the innovation and we need the
industry to lead the way toward finding solutions away from
leaded fuel for single-engine piston planes. But I do fear that
a top-down regulatory decision from the EPA to ban these leaded
aviation fuel options would have some serious ramifications.
Imagine the effects of grounding crop dusters and much of
rural general aviation. It would be devastating for both ag
communities in Nebraska and for the prices of corn and other
crops across the country. The last thing we need right now at a
moment of uncertainty and already historic high gas prices is
bad rulemaking that drives Americans' grocery bills even
higher.
To the witness, I would ask Mr. D'Acosta, Swift Fuels is
working to develop an unleaded alternative fuel for small
planes. I know that you have described kind of where you are
working. Can you reiterate for me the timeline with which you
think you could be successful or that the industry could be
successful so that we could allow the market to work here?
Mr. D'Acosta. So just to clarify, the EAGLE Program put a
2030 deadline on the timeline to have unleaded fuel, but Swift
Fuels is working on a three-year deadline. So we believe will
have fleet-wide approval of our entire 100-octane solution
within three years. And, in fact, we believe that sometime next
year, 2023, we will have introduced the 100-octane fuel into
specific locations across the country to further kind of a
transitional stepping-stone process to get the fuel into the
hands of people where they can experience it as a part of the
rollout process.
So Swift Fuel says 100-octane fuel in 2023 with a full
fleet-wide envelopment of the United States by 2025. And we
think it would be a global two years after that.
Mr. Flood. So when you list those deadlines, does that also
mean the certification of those fuels and the regulatory burden
that you----
Mr. D'Acosta. That is the certification. Yes, sir, that is
the certification along with the industry endorsement of the
ASTM specifications and the OEM endorsements of the fuel from
all the major OEMs that I have given examples of. All of those
have to happen for the fuel to get into the market. If they
don't, what will happen is the industry will step up and stop
it because they can tell their pilot, the people who own their
engines and their air frames, don't do that. And no pilot wants
to fly if the industry says don't do that.
Mr. Flood. Thank you very much for your testimony. The
National Academy of Sciences released a report in 2021. I think
it is important to note it found there was no single option
that could guarantee lead's full elimination from aviation
fuel. So I do believe we need to rely on innovation,
technology, and our robust system of private enterprise to help
solve the problem. We also need to ensure that we do what we
can do to reduce the regulatory burdens on firms trying to
develop the next generation of these fuels will have it impact
on how far we can go. So this is not the time for top-down,
sweeping Federal bans. This has ag applicators in my state
concerned. I certainly understand that lead exposure poses
serious health risks to human beings, but we have to find
solutions, and I appreciate your time, Mr. D'Acosta, and your
testimony.
I yield back.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you.
Mr. D'Acosta. Thank you. Can I just make one clarifying
comment? May I?
Mr. Khanna. Sure. Go ahead.
Mr. D'Acosta. So several people have mentioned today the
term ``single-engine type aircraft.'' The aircraft we are
talking about fleet wide spans many different types of engines
that have an 80-year legacy. So there are big radial war birds.
There are twin engine aircraft. There are helicopters. There is
single-engine aircraft. There is a whole mixture of things, and
that does add to the complexity. But nevertheless, all of that
is within the scope of what we call, fleet wide, a fuel that
will address the entire piston aviation fleet. Thank you.
Mr. Khanna. Thank you. Well, thank you to all of the
panelists for their remarks. Thank you, in particular, for your
leadership on this issue and for the personal testimony that
many of you shared about the impact of lead in the community. I
want to commend my colleagues and thank them for participating.
Congratulations to Ranking Member, Ms. Herrell. I look forward
to working with you for the rest of this Congress and beyond.
With that and without objection, all members will have five
legislative days within which to submit additional written
questions for the witnesses to the chair which will be
forwarded to the witnesses for their response. I ask our
witnesses to please respond as promptly as you are able.
Mr. Khanna. This hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:51 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]