Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy

IMPLEMENTING THE BINATIONAL TOXICS STRATEGY
Implementation

Stakeholders Forum
November 16-17, 1998 - Chicago, Illinois

Alkyl-Lead Work Group Meeting Minutes

In Attendance:
Joseph Valentine, Texaco Additives, International Research and Development
Ken Scott, Texaco International Aviation Sales
Evelyn Strader, Council of Great Lakes Industries
Jane Vass, American Indian Health and Family Services of S.E. Michigan
Elizabeth Toomer, Detroiter's Working for Environmental Justice
Jack Patriarche, Patriarche & Associates; Consultant to Environment Canada

Workgroup Leaders:
Anthony Kizlauskas, United States Environmental Protection Agency
Elizabeth Rezek, Environment Canada  

After introductions, the discussion turned to the reports that the US and Canada have been preparing on alkyl-lead. The US side has drafted a report to look at whether or not all alkyl-lead has been removed from motor gasoline as stated in their challenge. The Canadian side is in the process of drafting a report on the sources, uses and releases of alkyl-lead in Ontario.

It was decided that the Canadian side would present the work that they had completed to date first, followed by a presentation of the US report.

Jack Patriarche, presented the material that had been gathered to date on the Canadian side:

Alkyl-lead has not been manufactured in Ontario since 1994. The last year leaded aviation fuel (from here on called avgas) was produced in Ontario was 1995. All current sources of leaded fuel are imported into the province. In Canada, Gasoline Regulations were put in place in 1990 banning leaded gasoline in motor vehicles. The Gasoline Regulations did not include leaded aviation fuel. Exemptions were afforded to farm equipment, boats, and trucks over 3856kg Gross Vehicle Weight. The last exemption granted to the competition sector has been extended to the year 2003, at which point a review will be undertaken.

Since the base year of 1988, there has been a drop of just over 99% of leaded gasoline use. Current environmental regulations that required the use of catalytic converters, which cannot co-exist with leaded gasoline were pushing for the removal of lead from gasoline. The amount of leaded fuel used in the competition sector is quite small. There are approximately 1,200 races in Ontario each year, the exact number of races that use leaded fuel is uncertain. Several marinas were contacted and the general consensus is that leaded fuel isn't used. In most cases unleaded motor gasoline has been used to replace the leaded fuel. The Canadian Farm and Industrial Equipment Institute believes that most farm equipment sold over the past 10-15 years runs on diesel. Older farm equipment has been retired or is used so sparingly that consumption of leaded fuel is negligible. Information gathered to date on the chemical sector indicates that this isn't a source. Almost all The remaining leaded fuel in use is avgas. Only piston engine planes run on leaded fuel. All the large commercial planes run on jet fuel (whose main component is kerosene or naphtha). The portion of fuel used for aviation that comprises avgas is extremely small, approximately 1.9% of all aviation fuel.

The Canadian report has also looked at emissions of alkyl-lead. They have found documentation that has indicated that during combustion all alkyl-lead is consumed and that there are minor evaporative emissions during re-fuelling. A study around race tracks was done in Canada, lead levels at these two tracks were minimal and below provincial guidelines.

Recommendations will be made as to what next steps Environment Canada may choose. Including a recommendation to undertake a survey of airports in Ontario to determine what type of storage facilities they have, the type of avgas they supply and the quantities they use.

This report indicates that Canada has met its target for 90% reduction in the source, use and release of alkyl-lead. Canada is well into steps 1 & 2 of the 4 step process as described in the Binational Toxics Strategy.

Tony Kizlauskas tabled the Draft US Alkyl-Lead "No-Use" Challenge Report and summarized some of the highlights:

The final ban on leaded gas in on-road vehicles went into effect in at the end of 1995. However, the phase-out of leaded gas began much earlier, so that by 1991, leaded gasoline only represented 3% of the total gasoline produced. Leaded gasoline production decreased by 96% from 1967 to 1991. This had a large role in the 98% decrease in total lead emissions between 1970 and 1996. Leaded gasoline use is still allowed in non-road vehicles, including farm machinery, boats, competition vehicles and aviation (piston engines).

The draft report concludes that the US has met the challenge of no-use of leaded gasoline in automobiles. The US will next address the full spectrum of remaining uses of alkyl-lead, their regulations, and ways to reduce the identified uses, as they proceed through documentation of Steps 1 through 4 of the Strategy.

Jane Vass and Elizabeth Toomer proposed that the scope of the Work Group be expanded to include all forms of lead, not just alkyl-lead, since there were still significant populations being put at risk by lead (in all forms). After some discussion of the topic, it was agreed that, although it was an important health concern, it was beyond the authority of the Work Group to widen its terms of reference on its own. It was agreed that the issue would be raised to the Integration Group for their consideration. (Note: This issue was proposed for consideration at the last meeting of the Integration Group but could not be addressed due to time constraints at that meeting.)

Texaco's Joe Valentine gave an in-depth presentation on the work that has been ongoing by their research facility to finding an alternative to alkyl-lead for aviation fuel. He stated that the amount of avgas used in one year is less than the amount of motor gasoline used in one day in the United States.

He explained the key differences between avgas and automobile gasoline. The 5 key differences are in: octane, volatility, composition, detergents/additives, and handling. Other considerations taken into account when developing their experimental fuels were: emissions, deposits, toxicity, environmental "friendliness", oil/material compatibility, and handling. He pointed out the difficulties in developing a fuel that was able to tolerate the large range in operating conditions (temperature, pressure, etc.) under which airplane engines operate. He also pointed out that any fuel problems in an automobile would mean inconvenience to the operator, whereas fuel problems in an airplane would likely result in fatalities. Considering all of the testing that must be conducted (different conditions, different engine/airframe combinations, toxicity, etc.), the approvals from FAA that must be obtained, the acceptance by the aviation industry, other petroleum companies, distributors, etc. that must be obtained, a realistic timeframe for implementation of an unleaded high-octane avgas is probably 8 to 10 years.

Ken Scott, stated that he wouldn't like to see either government impose a date in which they needed to remove alkyl-lead from avgas. He reminded the workgroup that it is extremely difficult to phase out alkyl-lead from aviation fuel due to safety. Without the alkyl-lead, some of the existing aircraft would have to be effectively decertified, and would not be able to carry the payload for which they were designed.

It was reported to the workgroup that earlier this year a lead-free NASCAR race was held and sponsored by Unical. This indicates that there is potential to move away from alkyl-lead in competition vehicles.

As the focus of the Work Group shifts from the immediate Strategy Challenges to longer term efforts to reduce remaining uses of alkyl-lead, the membership will be expanded to include members from the racing industry, the FAA, and others.

Next Steps over the next 6 to 18 months:

US and Canada to complete their Strategy Challenge Reports by the end of December 1998. The reports will be available for public review on the Strategy Web Site.

Canada will address the recommendations in the report and determine which ones will need to be addressed in collaboration with the workgroup.

The US will assess the remaining sources, uses and releases of alkyl-lead in the United States and encourage reduction efforts.