Volume 162, No. 34 covering the 2nd Session of the 114th Congress (2015 - 2016) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“INTRODUCTION OF THE NO LEAD IN THE AIR ACT” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E266 on March 2, 2016.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
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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