So far over the past year, there have been two battles between supporters of small airports and two airport authorities, who made and/or proposed disruptive changes to how their airports operate. In the Bay Area of California, Santa Clara County officials sponsored a study that found that land close to the busy general aviation airport Reid-Hillview has dangerously elevated levels of environmental lead. So, they stepped in and eliminated the sales of 100LL, the most widely used fuel by small and not-so-small piston-powered GA aircraft. Recent reviews of that study, which, again, the county paid for, seem to show that airport leadership was, to be very kind, less than transparent with its representation of the facts. The takeaway, in fact, seems to be the opposite of what the county claimed. Elevated levels of lead are not associated with operations at the airport. They are, in fact, not at technically dangerous levels anywhere in the area. It doesn't seem to matter, though. Sales of 100LL have already been banned at Reid Hillview, making the airport a less-desirable stop for light planes, which can't get their preferred fuel there. In some cases, they can't get any fuel that's approved for use with the engines that power their aircraft.
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