BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — California's SB 1193 bans leaded aviation fuel by 2031 due to health concerns, but there's no unleaded replacement on the market right now.
- Video shows crew at Loyd's Aviation refueling planes with jet fuel and 100 octane low lead gasoline
- Leaded fuel emissions contribute to air pollution, threatening public health according to the EPA.
- Currently, no viable replacement exists for leaded aviation fuel for piston engine aircraft.
At the end of September, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1193 into law which would ban the sale of leaded aviation fuel that powers the small planes you see behind me by 2031, but one local pilot tells me if the industry can't find a replacement, it could cause some major concerns for California.
This is what it sounds like outside Loyd's Aviation as the crew refuels small planes and fighter jets.
"In aviation, we sell two different kinds of fuel based on the engine that is in each aircraft," Ryan Crowl, the president of Loyd's Aviation, said.
He tells me jet fuel powers aircraft with turbine engines, and 100 octane low lead gasoline fuels planes with piston engines.
"Those are currently the only commercially available fuels in the industry," Crowl said.
But, in about six years, California will ban the sale and distribution of 100 octane low lead gasoline under Senate Bill 1193 because of health concerns associated with lead emissions.
"There is no bare minimum of safe level of lead exposure," Caroline Menjivar, the senator who introduced the bill.
The Environmental Protection Agency determined in October 2023 lead emissions from aircraft contributed to air pollution, threatening public health and welfare under the Clean Air Act. Even the Federal Aviation Administration aims to eliminate the use of lead fuel by 2030.
"We've made that goal a permanent goalpost that they can work towards," she said.
But it's not that simple.
Right now, there's no replacement to fuel piston engine aircraft on the market.
"Somebody has actually coined or described it as trying to find a replacement for water. It's incredibly difficult," Crowl said.
That permanent deadline concerns Crowl because if there's no solution, the ban could ground some planes used to respond to wildfires, aircraft used by law enforcement, and potentially deter owners of piston engine planes from traveling to California.
"We all want to eliminate lead from this fuel, but my concern is that we don't get hung up on a date as much as getting hung up on making the solution right the first time," he said.
Crowl says the industry developed some unleaded options including a 100 octane lead-free fuel that has been approved by the FAA but it hasn't been tested elsewhere.
"I want this to be successful, and I know if it's really, really not happening then we'll come back to the table to see what we need to do," she said.
Menjivar says she hopes the deadline encourages aviation companies to work faster to develop an unleaded option, but adds she's willing to introduce an extension if there's no solution by 2030.
"Let's be honest, there's a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow for whoever figures it out because there's a financial incentive for whoever develops this fuel," Crowl said.
You can read the complete law here.
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