An analysis of lead levels at Flagler County airport yielded insignificant levels in the air and in the soil at four locations, according to the county attorney’s office.
“In the case of lead concentration levels at the airport, both the ambient testing and soil samples concluded that there was no exposure risk to residents, airport users, or to the surrounding communities,” County Attorney Michael Rodriguez wrote in a Nov. 24 letter to Darlene Shelley, a Kathleen Trail resident and a candidate for the Palm Coast City Council in next year’s election.
Shelley had written county officials a week earlier, describing the grounds at the airport as “contaminated” with lead. Shelley has been among a group of residents who have insistently complained to the county and to Palm Coast officials about the airport’s noise, pollution and risk of crashes from its innumerable touch-and-go flights conducted by students enrolled in flight schools that use the airport.
The county in turn has just as insistently said, for years, that it does not–and may not, by law–control the air space and the noise while dismissing concerns about pollution.
The concerns about lead are not quite alarmist: in October 2023, the federal Environmental Protection Agency “announced its final determination that emissions of lead from aircraft that operate on leaded fuel cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health and welfare under the Clean Air Act.” Leaded-fueled aircraft typically operate in smaller airports. Commercial jets don’t use leaded fuel.
“Levels of airborne lead in the United States have declined 99% since 1980,” the EPA reported in 2023, “but emissions from aircraft that operate on leaded fuel may still pose risks to nearby communities, including those with environmental justice concerns.” The findings were the result of a Biden Administration initiative and were intended to be followed-up with regulatory steps. That has not happened.
Flagler County last winter commissioned the lead analysis from Timothy Scott of Melbourne-based Consolidated Environmental Engineering, what appears to be a one-man shop. His LinkedIn profile describes him as a “Certified Mold Inspector and Certified Mold Remediation Contractor with over 30 years[‘] experience in the environmental and safety fields.” From 1984 to 2002 he worked for Lockheed/Martin [sic] and Tyco International “as a Chemist, Engineer and Corporate Director for Safety and Environmental Engineering,” and was a liaison to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The tests he conducted at the far edges of each runway at the airport showed “levels of lead exposure to be well below the permissible exposure limits established by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA),” or less than 1.1 to 1.3 micrograms per cubic meter. The permissible exposure is 50 micrograms in an eight-hour period. Soil samples produced results of 1.5 to 2.6 milligrams per kilogram. The cited FDEP commercial/industrial target is 1,400 milligrams.
“The reports conclude that the measured levels of lead are de minimis as previously stated by Commissioner Andy Dance,” Rodriguez wrote. “In scientific terms, de minimis refers to a principle that allows risks deemed sufficiently small to be disregarded, used in fields like risk analysis, toxicology, and research ethics.” Rodriguez urged Shelley to provide evidence of “contamination,” saying the information she had provided was “incomplete or anecdotal.” Shelley did not respond to an email before this article initially published.
Rodriguez cited various authorities in a summary of legal constraints the county operates under as if must defer most air and noise regulations to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The airport was again a subject of brief discussion at the County Commission meeting this morning, when Commissioner Kim Carney said she has been at the receiving end of renewed complaints.
“We’re not particularly able to make major changes, but it seems like the response is pretty much the same over and over again,” Carney said. “It’s FAA jurisdiction. We can’t stop certain things. We can’t do certain things, but we’re kind of sitting here complacent.” She added: “We need to start to get some public relations out on this airport. We need to do something. We need to change the image of that airport. As hard as it is going to be, it’s part of who we are, and the airport is part of the county. So we’ve got to embrace it and get some of this negativism down.”
County Administrator Heidi Petito said the administration was working on updating its information campaign on the airport, and working with the advisory board developing the airport master plan. Palm Coast City Council member Theresa Pontieri had posed a set of questions to the administration about the airport and its flight schools.
“There are things we can do, we just have to be creative about it,” Pontieri said today. The county controls the schools’ hangar leases, for instance, which gives the county some regulatory authority. In the air, nothing stops the county from issuing voluntary noise recommendations, with which most pilots tend to comply without infringing on FAA authority.
Pontieri met with county officials for an hour last week to discuss concerns and possibilities. “We started a good dialogue,” she said, noting that Deputy County Attorney Sean Moylan was looking into a few possibilities as well.
“There is a lot of stuff going on behind the scene to really address some of the concerns,” Petito said today, “with the understanding that we are limited on what we can do. And so I think it kind of speaks to the questions that Councilwoman Pontiery had. She understands that we do have limitations on what we can do. And so I think it’s more of educating the public.”
Kelly Remington says
I spoke about this at one of the commissioners meeting many years ago. There needs to be at least one more independent study done and not by just one single person or entity.