In particular, whatever politicians say, the Republican-controlled House has a rider in the FAA authorization bill which requires airports to continue selling leaded fuel for propeller aircraft forever:
The House version of the bill would require airports that receive federal grants to continue selling the same fuels they sold in 2018 in perpetuity.
While the Democratically-controlled Senate requires a phase-out:
The Senate version would require these airports to continue selling the same fuels they sold in 2022, with a sunset date of 2030 or whenever unleaded fuels are “widely available.”
For context, the FAA approved sale of unleaded fuel for all propeller planes last year, and there are local efforts to ban the sale of leaded fuel in locations where the unleaded fuel is now available
The thing about unleaded aviation gas is that its availability is regional right now. You can buy it in some parts of California, but not everywhere yet. Somebody needs to light a fire under the refiners to make them produce it, and a deadline is a good way to do that.
It’s one way, another way to is reduce demand, either by taxing the crap out of leaded fuel or by restricting how much of it airports are allowed to sell.
Setting a deadline just delays the fight because refineries know they can postpone the drama for another few years. Let’s say they already know how to make unleaded aviation fuel with enough octane for these older engines, but that it’s more expensive to produce, why would they make it available before the deadline? Just keep producing the old fuel until the last possible moment.
The Senate version does one more thing besides setting a deadline: it requires airports to switch to unleaded fuel when it becomes available. For any location served by more than one refinery, that creates a powerful financial incentive to shift: if you don’t, your competitors might, and take a market away from you.
I’d say it’s well-designed
Maybe. I’d rather just see leaded fuel being penalized instead of threatening to ban it. That should have the same incentive, but with financial instead of legal pressure.
I’d rather not have a world where rich dudes can pay extra for the privilege of wafting lead into kids lungs, but I think we’re going to just have to disagree on this.
Nobody wants lead in kids lungs. However, eliminating that completely eliminates a long standing privilege because there currently is no cleaner fuel. So we have three options:
Both Democrats and Republicans are proposing the second option, with Democrats switching to the first after a few years. I’m proposing the third.
Last year, the FAA approved the first unleaded fuel that works for all existing small piston-driven propeller aircraft.
It’s available today on a regional basis. Taking it national is basically a matter of forcing refiners to produce it (or one of the equivalents currently in development)
Reduce flying until it’s more widely available would be a great move too.
Cool, so I think we should tax the use of leaded gas a lot higher than unleaded to encourage ramping up production of the new fuel. If we follow the Democrat plan, there’s no real reason to ramp up production quickly, they’ll just take their time.
There is reason to ramp up though: as the unleaded fuel becomes available locally, airports are required to switch. So in any location served by more than one refinery, one refinery can grab market share by starting production of unleaded aviation gas.