[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 2, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INTRODUCTION OF THE NO LEAD IN THE AIR ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 2, 2016

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the No Lead in the Air 
Act. The bill prohibits the use of lead in aircraft fuel by 2021. Lead 
exposure can have harmful effects on children as well as adults. Since 
1980, the amount of lead in the air has decreased 89 percent, but while 
lead gas for automobiles has been banned since 1995, the piston-engine 
aircraft industry and airports that supply their fuel continue to use 
leaded aircraft fuel. Without a federal ban, they will continue to do 
so and put our communities and children at risk.
  Lead particles from airplane exhaust can fall widely during flight 
and there may be high concentrations of lead near airports. It is 
estimated that 16 million people live and three million children go to 
school within a half-mile of airports that sell leaded aircraft fuel, 
called avgas. The health effects of lead in children include behavioral 
and learning problems, lower IQ, hyperactivity, slowed growth, hearing 
problems, and anemia. Lead exposure can cause premature births and 
spontaneous abortions in pregnant women, and adults can suffer from 
increased blood pressure, decreased kidney function, and reproductive 
problems.
  Seventy-five percent of piston-engined aircraft already operate 
safely with fuel that does not use lead. However, small airports 
continue to only sell leaded avgas for these piston-engine aircraft. 
But small airports will have to comply if the federal government bans 
the use of leaded fuel. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 
which implements the Clean Air Act, announced plans in 2010 to phase 
out leaded aviation fuel, but in the intervening six years we still 
have not seen a proposed rule. The Federal Aviation Administration 
(FAA) has created a task force of government and aviation industry 
stakeholders to study alternative fuels for piston-engine aircraft that 
do not use lead, and the agency has indicated it may certify lead-free 
aviation fuel sometime in 2018.
  With so much evidence of the harmful impacts of lead exposure, we can 
no longer put our communities at risk. My bill would give enough time 
for a full phase-out of lead in aircraft fuel--five years--by directing 
the FAA Administrator, in consultation with the EPA Administrator, to 
issue regulations prohibiting the use of leaded fuel in aircraft in 
U.S. airspace beginning January 1, 2021.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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