EPA Releases Proposed Finding on Leaded AvGas

The aviation community was expecting the announcement and points to progress on unleaded fuel in the market.

Saturday, October 08, 2022 at 09:06 AM ET

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The distribution of unleaded fuel will be initially driven by industry partners to the EAGLE initiative, such as Avfuel. [Photo: Julie Boatman]

Key Takeaways:

The EPA has issued a proposed finding that lead emissions from aviation fuel endanger public health, an anticipated first step towards regulation, but not an immediate ban on leaded avgas.
The general aviation industry, through the EAGLE initiative, was prepared for this and is committed to a safe, deliberate transition to unleaded fuel, warning against any ban before widely available alternatives exist.
Significant progress is being made on unleaded avgas alternatives, with GAMI's G100UL recently gaining FAA approval and Swift Fuels' UL94 already on the market for some aircraft, alongside other fuels in FAA evaluation.

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File it under the category of “We were expecting this.”

On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposed finding on leaded aviation fuel, triggering a response from the consortium of general aviation associations that have been working on the removal of lead from avgas with the FAA and industry partners. Under the EAGLE (Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions) initiative, the collective has demonstrated in recent months its commitment to sunsetting 100LL in a safe, deliberate manner.