Thu, Feb 02, 2012
Coyne Warns GA Threatened In California
At a time when deficit spending and a business exodus in
California threatens the state with a fiscal crisis next month,
aviation business advocates are warning a lawsuit against the
leaded avgas supply chain could devastate the aviation business in
the state.
Writing in the Long Beach Business Journal, Sean Belk notes that
the lawsuit by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), which
claims the producers and retailers of 100LL have violated state law
by failing to warn the public about health hazards, threatens to
assess significant civil penalties against the businesses.
CEH claims drinking water sources near seven airports in
California are polluted with lead from avgas, and notes that LAX,
Oakland International, John Wayne, San Diego and Long Beach
airports are among the 12 highest lead producers of all US
airports.
The Journal reports that James Coyne (pictured), president of
the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), told industry
officials at Toyota AirFlite at Long Beach Airport that the
CEH’s lawsuit is a form of "legal abuse," since the suppliers
of avgas are often required under lease agreements to provide the
fuel to general aviation aircraft users. NATA is fighting the suit
on behalf of the defendants, and has asked the FAA to get involved,
but so far the agency has declined. NATA's attempt to have the CEH
suit dismissed on the basis of federal preemption has been rejected
by the courts, on the basis that aviation businesses have not yet
suffered any actual economic damage.
Coyne tells the Journal, "We really got to get the message out
to the business community...that aviation in California is facing a
threat that exists nowhere else in America today. We have the State
of California, individually, all by itself, deciding how dangerous
aviation fuels are or not and imposing the threat of very, very
significant mitigation which may lead to the abandonment of fuel
for piston-aircraft if worse comes to worse."
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