Air quality hearing

Miki Barnes (left, at podium), of Oregon Aviation Watch, presents on the dangers of lead emissions at the Hillsboro Airport to state legislators Mitch Greenlick and Michael Dembrow (right).

(Luke Hammill / The Oregonian)

After hearing testimony from Oregon Aviation Watch's Miki Barnes, state legislators hosting an air quality workshop in Portland on Friday said they would look to speed up the transition away from leaded fuels at Hillsboro Airport.

The discussion surrounding the airport was just one item on a long agenda of air quality issues, but Oregon Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, and Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, took notice of the health concerns the airport presents and encouraged the Port of Portland to cooperate in finding a solution more quickly.

The forum was held at Portland Community College's Moriarty Auditorium. After Barnes' presentation, Dembrow said he hadn't been aware that leaded fuels were still being used.

"The case was clearly made that lead was a problem. ... For me, this was the biggest eye-opener, to find out how extensive this problem is," he said.

Barnes was joined by Dr. James Lubischer, a Washington County pediatrician who is also a member of Oregon Aviation Watch, which is currently challenging the Port of Portland's intent to build a third runway at Hillsboro Airport in federal court. Lubischer said 85 percent of the toddlers he sees have lead in their blood and cited research from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that concluded that there is no known safe level of lead in a child's blood.

"The science is clear," Lubischer said.

Barnes said Hillsboro Airport is the leading facility source of lead in Oregon and is in the top 1 percent of emitters among airports nationwide. It ranks 21st in lead emissions out of approximately 20,000 airports across the country, she said.

She said Hillsboro Airport is unique because a large percentage of its trips are made by piston engine aircraft, which require leaded fuel, used for flight training schools.

"This is a problem," Barnes said, pointing out that Hillsboro Airport is not the only one in Oregon that hosts flight training programs. "This is a serious problem here. Many of those airports are involved in the flight training industry."

Sara Armitage of the state Department of Environmental Quality said that Oregon is meeting federal lead standards. She added that the DEQ is closely following an Environmental Protection Agency study that is monitoring lead emissions at 17 airports across the country.

David Breen, an air quality program manager for the Port of Portland, which runs the airport, said the Federal Aviation Administration is looking to come up with an unleaded aviation fuel transition plan by 2018. He also said the Port is assessing the potential to use ethanol-free unleaded gasoline at the airport in the near-term.

Greenlick floated the idea of placing a high state tax on the leaded fuel.

"If there's anything that's clear, we shouldn't be using leaded fuels," he said.

The airport discussion wasn't the only Washington County air quality issue raised at the forum. During public comment time, Dale Feik and Russ Dondero of the Washington County Citizen Action Network urged the audience to keep the pressure on Intel in the wake of revelations that the company had been emitting fluoride without telling the DEQ.

"We need to create a regulatory regime where the state of Oregon takes responsibility like they've taken in California to monitor, to investigate and to transparently notify the public when industry is not complying with state law," Dondero said. He added later: "Unless we're willing to pay that price, folks, we're going to be here in 20 years, talking about the same subject."

-- Luke Hammill