Six months ago, Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport Director Paul Anslow didn’t want to talk about leaded fuel.
Facing growing concerns from nearby residents about the potential health effects of airborne lead emissions from planes, Anslow said he had “zero control” over the issue.
“I don't like having the lead conversations, because there's no proof that it's coming from the planes, which no one wants to hear,” he said on the tarmac after he took elected officials from northern Colorado on a tour of the airport.
He said the lead particles residents were finding on the outside of their homes in nearby Superiorcould have come from construction or cars that used leaded gas before it was phased out fifty years ago.
“I'm not saying we don't have a health hazard, or causing that, but I'm also not admitting to it,” he said. “There's nothing I can do about it. And that's the frustrating part. People want me to do something. I'm literally forbidden from basically saying you can't sell that (leaded) gas.”
He said the leaded fuel was a “federal level” issue.
Six months later, the airport appears to be making a 180-degree turn. Suddenly, Anslow says the airport is doing something about it.
Anslow stepped up to a podium in front of TV cameras last week to announce his airport was “accelerating” its transition to unleaded fuel.
He said the airport, which is owned and operated by Jefferson County, had purchased a $50,000 fuel truck and has a goal to completely end the use of leaded fuel by 2027, three years before a federal deadline.
“Our team's commitment to innovative solutions and community collaboration is why the airport's full transition will be well in advance of the (Federal Aviation Administration’s) timeline” to phase out unleaded fuel, he said.
So how did the airport leadership go from saying it had “zero control” over the lead issue and questioning the health impact to announcing it was “accelerating” its transition away from the fuel six months later?
"I've learned so much in the last...six months," Anslow said last week. "It's a much easier transition. I think more and more airports are going to be doing this."
Anslow said the announcement was fueled by a combination of things, including getting a good deal on an unleaded fuel tanker truck and the fuel itself becoming more widely available and affordable compared to the current leaded version.
"No one's going to pay $4 more a gallon (for unleaded fuel), but that price has come down to about $1.36 a gallon," he said. "So, I think as we add our planes to the fleet (using unleaded), the price is going to continue to come down."
Residents who live close to the runway say a public outcry and political pressure from communities near the airport is the biggest factor driving the change.
A public outcry
Bri Lehman said a public outcry in northern Colorado in recent months has made it “untenable” for the airport to deny the effects of leaded fuel and resist calls for change.
Lehman is a concerned Lafayette resident and a leader of the Save our Skies Alliance, a group pushing airports to become quieter and more environmentally friendly.
“We have moved from denial to skepticism to finally acceptance,” Lehman said at the airport after listening to Anslow’s announcement. “I also believe that the political pressure from an increasing group of constituents not only in our communities but across the country probably has created a situation where it's untenable to continue to deny the effects on this any further.”
The calls for change at the airport have been led at town council meetings by parents and Robert Boutelle, a chemist in Superior.
Boutelle, whose home is close to the runway, has given presentations about the dangers of airborne lead exposure to elected officials in Superior, Broomfield and Westminster.
"There's no safe levels of lead for children," he told the Superior town council in March.
Boutelle told KUNC before that meeting he was frustrated by a lack of action to remove leaded fuel from airports.
“A lot of officials don't want to deal with it,” he said. “It feels like they're just passing the buck around and being like ‘well, this is not our jurisdiction. You should talk to these people.’ So it's been a very, very frustrating endeavor.”
But after his presentations started, the elected officials he talked to were concerned enough to reach out to the airport.
Superior’s town council sent Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport a letter in the spring calling on its leaders to stop using leaded fuel “as quickly as possible.”
“Removing the largest lead air pollution source is essential to the health and well-being of our community,” the trustees wrote.
The airport responded that while it supported efforts to transition away from leaded fuel, there were hurdles involved in doing so.
It didn’t offer a specific timeline for the transition.
Gratifying
Residents who have spent years raising health concerns about leaded fuel at the airport welcomed the announcement.
Charlene Willey of Westminster said she’s been working for five years to stop the use of leaded fuel at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport.
She attended the airport’s announcement of the switch to unleaded last week and said she was “gratified” by the news.
“We’re very gratified to see this,” Willey said. “We sure would have liked this transition to be even more accelerated because it's doing harm every day that these planes (using leaded fuel) fly.”
Willey said she lives less than a mile from the airport and is concerned about the health effects of lead exposure.
The EPA says it can cause cognitive issues in children and raise blood pressure in adults, among other effects.
“And kids, when they're harmed by lead, that's lifelong,” Willey said.
Willey said she hopes Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport’s announcement about unleaded fuel inspires other airports around the state to make the switch as well.
Superior town council trustee Jason Serbu also watched the fuel announcement. He called it a “massive” win for both the nearby residents and the airport.
“No longer do we have to sit there and say ‘stop flying over our neighborhoods because you're dumping lead on us.’ Now we're going to mitigate that,” Serbu said.
Serbu said the airport has also recently agreed to change its flight patterns at night to alleviate aircraft noise over Superior.
Airport director Paul Anslow said the unleaded fuel will be available starting next year.
It isn’t clear yet how many pilots will immediately take advantage of the unleaded fuel. The Centennial Airport in Colorado started unleaded fuel sales earlier this year and is offering financial incentives to help pilots make the switch.
Anslow said Rocky Mountain Metropolitan would like to do the same, but that will depend on what the budget looks like next year.
“I believe we will, but we have to look at our budget and make sure that we're not overspending and going in the hole,” he said.
He said the switch to unleaded fuel would have minimal impact to airport operations.
“We’re going to know for a fact that we’re using a fuel that’s not damaging the environment that leaded fuel did, not damaging the possible growth of young children,” he said. “I think in the end it’s the right thing to do. It’s going to be good for everybody.”
