Senator Caroline Menjivar (Photo: https://www.carolinemenjivar.com)
Governor Newsom Signs Leaded Aviation Gasoline Ban Into Law
‘Sen. Menjivar is sacrificing safety’
By Evan Symon, September 23, 2024 5:33 pm
A bill that will prohibit the sale of leaded aviation gasoline to consumers in 2031 was signed into law on Sunday by Governor Gavin Newsom, despite heavy opposition against the bill.
Senate Bill 1193, authored by Sen. Caroline Menjivar (D-Panorama City), would specifically prohibit an airport operator or aviation retail establishment, as defined, from selling, distributing, or otherwise making available leaded aviation gasoline to consumers on or after January 1, 2031.
When first introduced earlier this year, SB 1193 originally promised to do much more on a shorter timeline. According to the original version of the bill from February, SB 1193 wanted to ban the sale of leaded aviation fuel in disadvantaged communities by January 1st, 2026, ban the sale of leaded aviation fuel in urban growth areas by January 1st, 2028, ban the sale of leaded fuel throughout the rest of California by January 1st, 2030, and instruct the Department of Transportation to publish guidance for airport operators to minimize the environmental and public health impacts of lead exposure.
Menjivar also wrote the bill because of how leaded aviation fuel endangers the health of people who live in communities adjacent to airports. Menjivar cited a 2021 study that found that children who lived less than a mile away from an airport had 21% higher lead levels in their blood compared to children who lived farther away.
“When I ran for office, one of my main promises to my community was to fight for cleaner air. To hold accountable the polluters who disregard the impacts of their actions in predominantly communities of color, and to push for policy that decreases the amount of pollution statewide,” said Menjivar in February. “Senate District 20, a Latino-majority district, has 3 airports within approximately 10 miles of each other. The people of San Fernando Valley, and in neighborhoods across California, have had enough. SB 1193 is a necessary step towards mitigating air pollution. We need a strong statewide approach now because where California leads, the nation follows.”
Major safety issues with SB 1193
While some environmental and community groups opposed Menjivar’s SB 1193, heavy opposition came within the airport and aviation industries. They noted that while the industry is headed towards an unleaded aviation gasoline (av gas) future, SB 1193 brings it about too early. Menjivar, seeing the heavy opposition, amended her bill multiple time to move the timeline down and gutted most of the bill, leaving only a 2031 date. However, even this date is too early.
“She’s thinking with her heart and not her brain,” said aviation manufacturing consultant Gerald Adler to the Globe on Monday. “Unleaded fuel was approved for piston-engine planes in 2022, but the problem is that a lot of engines are not rated for unleaded fuels. Could they run on it? Yes. But the problem comes with testing. Not all have been tested with it properly and still need leaded av gas. And there is no way that testing of all relevant engines can be done by 2031. More time is needed. Whoever came up with this bill just doesn’t realize the nuts and bolts behind this.
“Again, it is a good thing for the switch, and the industry is really working their way there. We just need to test all these engines first to make sure no problems happen. It’s for safety. The person who wrote this, Menjivar, is sacrificing safety here, and that is just not ok. She needs to use her head.”
SB 1193 was heavily opposed throughout the year, barely passing the Senate in May with a 29-8 with 3 abstention vote. Seeing that more Democrats were siding with GOP colleagues in opposing the bill, heavy changes were made to SB 1193 to appease them. This tactic worked, with SB 1193 narrowly passing the Assembly and the Senate again last month. On Sunday, Newsom then joined the majority of his Democratic colleagues and signed the bill into law.
While now signed, opponents have said that there is plenty that can be done to further delay the bill.
“Oh, lawsuits are coming. Big time,” added Adler. “For safety reasons, this bill can be delayed further into the 2030’s, for when the industry is ready. And who knows, we may develop a better fuel by then or come up with better engines to speed the process up. But the point is this bill is very short-sighted. You’re right in saying that the fuel in question is niche, but testing takes time, as we need to run them through all different conditions. We need at least 10 years. 2035 would have been a much more doable date. 2031? That’s mental. Menjivar doesn’t seem to care about aviation safety, which is scary. This bill was not thought through at all.”
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September 14, 2023 -
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This is CRAZY. For God’s sake, have we figured out yet that California desperately needs ALL NEW leadership?
ABOUT TIME! I, for one, know that my plane…hey, wait, I don’t own a plane. Come to think of it, I don’t even know anyone that does, either. Yet, this is such a MASSIVE, FRONT-BURNER issue for aviation gas users. The state’s welfare hangs in the balance! We need to “fix” this now! OMG, this has to be a bad sci-fi movie from the 60s. California is a MADHOUSE!!!
How many of Democrat Senator Caroline Menjivar’s constituents in he 20th Senate District in the San Fernando Valley were clamoring for this legislation? Few to none? Maybe she was getting payoffs from nefarious sources?
“Menjivar cited a 2021 study that found that children who lived less than a mile away from an airport had 21% higher lead levels in their blood compared to children who lived farther away.”
CITATION, please, if you have it.
Never mind, I did it myself…A Santa Clara County commissioned study, 2022.
BACKSTORY MATTER: https://news.santaclaracounty.gov/us-environmental-protection-agency-makes-official-determination-dangers-leaded-aviation-fuel
PDF OF THE ACTUAL STUDY: https://files.santaclaracounty.gov/migrated/Zahran%20Study%20Published%202022.pdf
peer reviews of this study did reveal that children that live further away from the airport actually at higher rates of lead in their blood. read hillview has a very minimal traffic at night and is considered a large open space. children that live further away from the airport and liveed next to manufacturing and freeways at higher levels.
So fix the problem where it isn’t. But hey, we get publicity and we have an excuse to feed our need to control.
No amount of lead is safe to be putting into the air we breathe according to the EPA.
This just more lamebrain legislation from far-left radical Democrat Senator Caroline Menjivar? She also authored Senate Bill 541 that would require the Family PACT program to cover HPV vaccinations for ages 12-18 even though HPV vaccinations have caused serious injuries and there have been over 50,000 adverse events against Gardasil and Gardasil 9 in the United States alone. Why was she pushing HPV vaccines? Maybe she was getting payoffs from HPV vaccine manufacturers?
Who is Democrat Senator Caroline Menjivar who represents the 20th Senate District in the San Fernando Valley? Her bio states that she’s a homeowner in Panorama City where she resides with her wife. After graduating with a Master of Social Welfare degree from UCLA, she went to in the LA Mayor’s Gender Equity Office. During the COVID lockdowns, she hosted nightly conference calls to update residents and organized socially distanced community events such as the San Fernando Valley’s LGBTQ+ Pride Car Parade. She’s another radical Marxist Democrat who has never started or ran a business. With her thin resume, no doubt she was installed with the help of Democrat voter fraud and manipulated voting machines?
You sound upset.
Talk to a professional who cares.
Oh look, someone was triggered by the truth about the manly looking Democrat Senator Caroline Menjivar and her shady legislation that is probably quite lucrative for her and the criminal Democrat mafia?
The airplane people knew this was coming a quarter of a century ago, now there’s a due date and panic ensues. Pick your poison, “safety” or “think of the children”.
I own a small airplane and I can tell you there is no safety issue. Safety here is being used an a excuse to not move on and do the right thing. The truth is lead reduces the safety of Aviation because when used in gasoline, it fouls the spark plugs damages the aircrafts valves with lead deposits that reduce the engines life between overhauls. It also requires engine oil changes twice as often compared to using fuel without lead. And where does that leaded contaminated oil end up?
so when planes start have engine failures mid flight from not using proper type of fuel and start crashing into houses that have say three children or four children then what there going ban planes? these policies that the Democrats are signing into law or just ridiculous say for one banning of gas powered leaf blowers chainsaws generators small engine equipment basically put me out of business because I’m a small business owner I couldn’t afford to replace my gas-powered stuff with electric stuff I guess the good thing is that don’t be able to fix it my equipment until the Democrats ban replacement parts. I have a good idea why don’t they just put CA in a bubble and leave the rest of the world alone for us environmentally polluting people that’s an idea