When the EPA first tackled removing lead emissions from engines, it focused on the biggest polluters: cars. “The type of mission or purpose of using a piston engine might not be served well with a jet,” Desrosier said. Since World War II, piston engines have been widely used by pilot hobbyists, aviation students and government agencies because of their high-performing engines and reliability to stay aloft amid rapid changes in temperature, pressure and altitude. Piston-engine airplanes have been a mainstay in aviation since they were first introduced in the early 20th century, according to Walter Desrosier, vice president of engineering and maintenance with the aviation industry group General Aviation Manufacturers Association. “We’re really careful to come back to this point that just because public areas might meet the EPA standard doesn't mean zero risk or zero concern.” Long history Louis and member of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board. You’d have to make a policy decision,” said Jay Turner, an engineering education professor at Washington University in St. “There is no bright line that says 'Above this concentration lead is safe and below this concentration' that it is not. It’s also unclear to air quality experts and residents what is arguably safe. Meanwhile residents continue to live with the air quality that comes with living near an airport where small planes burning leaded fuel fly in and out, said Alarcon, who is also a volunteer organizer with the nonprofit tenant advocacy group Vecinos Activos. “So until they come up with an alternative fuel, there is a limited amount the county can do to address that.” Reid-Hillview Airport in East San Jose. “Fuel and emissions are governed by the federal government,” said Eric Peterson, county airports director with the County of Santa Clara, which owns Reid-Hillview. Leaded aviation fuel, or avgas, now makes up “the largest remaining aggregate source of lead emissions to air in the U.S.,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency. While leaded gasoline was fully phased out in 1996 with the passage of the Clean Air Act, it still fuels a fleet of 170,000 piston-engine airplanes and helicopters. That’s because Reid-Hillview is one of 13,000 so-called general aviation airports, from which leaded-fuel piston-engine aircraft fly.
With rent costing more than $3,200 on average for a three-bedroom home in San Jose, many working-class people like Alarcon have been forced into making a wrenching decision: pay more affordable rent but endure poorer air quality. “In the airport area, in each house, there are two to three families because it’s so expensive.” “The problem is sadly it's very expensive here ,” said Alarcon, who earns $5,000 a month after taxes as a roofing contractor. He moved out for a price his rent jumped from $800 to $1,700 a month. But when his sneezing didn’t stop, his doctor recommended he move far from the airport in East San Jose, an area where 2.5 percent of children under 6 years old who were tested had detectable levels of lead in their blood, according to the California Department of Public Health's most recent figures, from 2012. His doctor prescribed antibiotics to treat his breathing problems. While he lived there, Alarcon said, he also struggled with respiratory issues.
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