Even as new studies show no detectable lead in the air or the ground near one of Colorado’s busiest general aviation airports—Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, also known as "Jeffco"—the state legislature is advancing a bill (HB-1235) that would add a 50-cent-per-gallon “impact remediation fee” on the sale of leaded avgas. It would also cut off funding for airports proximate to high-density populations (defined as 3,000 people per sq m) that did not have plans in place to phase out leaded fuels by Jan. 1, 2026—a full four years before general aviation groups have voluntarily agreed to switch to unleaded fuel.
The “Reduce Aviation Impacts on Communities” bill contains other provisions viewed as hostile to general aviation, including the expansion of the state’s aeronautical board from seven to nine members, with the new seats designated for non-pilots who live “directly in the predominant flight path of a high-traffic” airport. However, it does include various impact-mitigating incentives, such as a tax credit for aircraft operators paying the new fuel fee and the designation of airport grant money for new unleaded fuel tanks and other related infrastructure. The legislation comes after community groups in the area filed suit against the airport and hyperbolically proclaimed Jeffco “our Flint, Michigan,” a reference to the lead pipe contamination that shut down that city’s water supply in 2014.
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