New law protects communities from noise and lead pollution

(COLORADO) — Governor Jared Polis signed a new legislation today that protects communities from pollution.

The newest law will protect communities from aviation fuel lead emissions and noise pollution.

HB24-1235 ensures that communities and airports coexist better by easing the transition to unleaded fuels from aircraft owners and airports. In addition, it ensures airports maintain sustained noise mitigation efforts.

“Over the last few years, I have received countless constituent emails, phone calls, and town hall questions about pervasive noise and lead pollution caused by aviation,” said Senate President Steve Fenberg. “Time and time again, impacted Coloradans were told that due to federal preemption, there was nothing that could be done to protect them from these negative impacts. This year, we got creative and came up with a policy that asks airports to do their part to reduce aviation noise while supporting them in their transition away from leaded fuels. However, this marks just the first step in meaningfully addressing the problem. There’s much more work ahead to ensure impacted communities and regional airports can coexist in Colorado.”

The law will specifically:

• Incentivize aircraft owners to transition their planes from using leaded to unleaded fuel by providing a refundable income tax credit for qualified expenses

• Ensures that the lesser of 10% or 1.5 million of the State Aviation System grant funding per year goes toward aiding the transition to unleaded gasoline

• Requires grant recipients to adopt a plan for phasing out sales of leaded gasoline by 2030 and to establish a noise abatement plan

• Adds two members to the Colorado Aeronautical Board who are residents of communities affected by aviation

• Requires the Division of Aeronautics to work with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to evaluate, educate, and provide technical assistance to airports regarding adverse impacts of aircraft noise and leaded aviation fuel

Leaded fuel, commonly used by recreation pilots and pilots-in-training, is a leading source of lead emission. Excessive exposure to lead has many harmful health effects across various bodily functions.

“More than 25 years after the phase-out of leaded gasoline for passenger vehicles, leaded aviation fuel is still present in Colorado and can have adverse health effects on our communities, especially children and youth,” said Representative Kyle Brown. “This law will improve our public health and help transition aircraft away from the use of leaded fuel. Our community-driven legislation works to ensure that airports are good neighbors to their surrounding communities by addressing both the dangers of lead exposure and the quality of life impacts of noise pollution.”

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