Office of Transportation and Air Quality

EPA-420-F-13-032

June 2013

Airport Lead Monitoring

This Program Update provides a summary of the data currently 

available on concentrations of lead measured at 17 airport 

facilities in the U.S. 

Concentrations of Lead at Airports

Outdoor concentrations of lead have greatly declined over the past few decades, in 

large part due to regulations that removed lead from fuels used in cars and trucks. 

However, lead continues to be emitted into the air from certain sources, such as ore 

and metal processing and aircraft that use leaded aviation gasoline (avgas). These 

aircraft are typically used for activities including business and personal travel, instructional flying, aerial surveys, agriculture, firefighting, law enforcement, medical 

emergencies, and express freight. Lead is not contained in jet fuel, which is used 

by commercial aircraft. 

To protect the public from harmful levels of lead in outside air, EPA has established 

a National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for lead. In late 2008, EPA 

substantially strengthened this standard, revising the level from 1.5 micrograms per 

cubic meter (μg/m3), to 0.15 μg/m3, for a 3-month average concentration of lead in 

total suspended particles. This revised standard improves health protection for at-risk 

groups, especially children.

In conjunction with strengthening the lead NAAQS, EPA improved the existing 

lead monitoring network by requiring monitors to be placed in areas with sources 

such as industrial facilities and airports. State and local air quality agencies are now 

required to monitor near industrial facilities with estimated lead emissions of 0.50 

tons or more per year and at airports with estimated emissions of 1.0 ton or more 

per year, as well as, on a case-by-case basis in locations where information indicates 

a significant likelihood of exceeding the standard. EPA required a 1-year monitoring study of 15 airports with estimated lead emissions between 0.50 and 1.0 ton per 

year in an effort to better understand how these emissions affect the air at and near 

airports. Airports for this 1-year monitoring study were selected based on factors such 

as the level of piston-engine aircraft activity and the predominant use of one runway 

due to wind patterns, in order to help evaluate airport characteristics that could lead 

Program Update

to ambient lead concentrations that approach or exceed the lead NAAQS.
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Program Update

As a result of these requirements, lead monitoring has been conducted at 17 airports. As of May 

2013, states and local air authorities have collected and certified lead concentration data for at 

least 3 months from the 17 airports. The certified data are available in the table below. EPA 

anticipates having a full year of certified data from all 17 airports by May 2014, at which time 

the airport study will be complete.

Concentrations of Lead at Airports

Airport, State Lead Design Value,* 

μg/m3

Auburn Municipal Airport, WA 0.06

Brookhaven Airport, NY 0.03

Centennial Airport, CO 0.02

Deer Valley Airport, AZ 0.04

Gillespie Field, CA 0.07

Harvey Field, WA 0.02

McClellan-Palomar Airport, CA 0.17

Merrill Field, AK 0.07

Nantucket Memorial Airport, MA 0.01

Oakland County International Airport, MI 0.02

Palo Alto Airport, CA 0.12

Pryor Field Regional Airport, AL 0.01

Reid-Hillview Airport, CA 0.09

Republic Airport, NY 0.01

San Carlos Airport, CA 0.33

Stinson Municipal, TX 0.03

Van Nuys Airport, CA 0.06

*The design value for lead is the maximum value of three-month average concentrations 

measured at that location. 

Two airports have monitored lead concentrations that exceed the lead NAAQS. Fact sheets 

specific to these airports have been developed and are available at the EPA Region 9 webpage 

provided below. Supplemental sampling is being conducted at these two airports to evaluate lead 

concentrations at additional locations at and near the airport. Information from other airports 

that have previously been studied in greater detail indicates that air lead concentrations 

decrease within short distances from aircraft emissions. 
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Program Update

EPA’s Actions Regarding Lead Emissions from Aircraft Operating on 

Leaded Fuel

EPA is currently conducting the analytical work, including modeling and monitoring, to evaluate under section 231 of the Clean Air Act whether lead emissions from the use of leaded avgas 

in piston-engine aircraft cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated 

to endanger public health or welfare. Any proposed determination with regard to endangerment 

would be subject to public notice and comment, and we estimate the final determination will be 

in mid-to-late 2015. Additional details regarding EPA’s evaluation are available in the Advance 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Lead Emissions From Piston-Engine Aircraft Using Leaded 

Aviation Gasoline, and the associated public docket (links provided below). 

If EPA makes a final positive endangerment finding (i.e., EPA finds that lead emissions from 

general aviation cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to 

endanger), the agency would initiate rulemaking to establish standards concerning lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft. FAA would then be required to prescribe regulations to insure 

compliance with such standards, and prescribe standards for the composition of aircraft fuel to 

control or eliminate certain emissions.

For Additional Information 

For more information regarding monitoring at the San Carlos Airport and San Diego airports 

(McClellan-Palomar and Gillespie Field), please visit: 

www.epa.gov/region9/air/airport-lead/

For more information on EPA’s actions regarding the endangerment evaluation, please visit: 

www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-04-28/pdf/2010-9603.pdf

and 

www.epa.gov/otaq/aviation.htm

For access to the rulemaking docket containing documents relevant to EPA’s evaluation, 

please visit: 

www.regulations.gov and enter EPA-HQ-OAR-2007-0294

For information on the Federal Aviation Administration’s actions to eliminate leaded aviation 

fuels, please visit:

www.faa.gov/news/ 

For information on the Federal Aviation Administration’s actions to reduce lead concentrations 

at airports, please visit:

www.faa.gov/airports/environmental/
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Program Update

For more information on how you can reduce your family’s risk of lead exposure, please visit: 

www.epa.gov/lead/parents.html#

For more information on lead in air, please visit:

www.epa.gov/airquality/lead/

Contact 

Marion Hoyer 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality

2000 Traverwood Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105

734-214-4513,

E-mail: hoyer.marion@epa.gov

Or:

Meredith Pedde

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Office of Transportation and Air Quality

2000 Traverwood Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105

734-214-4748

E-mail: pedde.meredith@epa.gov