Where is the Vero Beach Municipal Airport disposing of a ton of lead every year?

David Risinger, Vero Beach

Letter: Where is the Vero Beach Municipal Airport disposing of a ton of lead every year?

Each year the Vero Beach Municipal Airport oversees the combustion of about 900,000 gallons of leaded aviation fuel by their own admission (through our open records request).

And at two grams of lead per gallon, and a 75 percent exhaust rate, that's about a ton of lead emissions a year.

So where does a ton of lead a year go? Lead is a persistent polluter and does not degrade as suggested by our airport commission.

Lead never degrades. And like mercury and arsenic, lead has no known biological functions, making it of particular interest to those we entrust with our public health.

For three years now, we have been asking where 2,000 pounds of lead emissions a year go, and so far the city of Vero Beach, and the Vero Beach Municipal Airport, have been pretty much uninterested in a serious discussion.

One day the Vero Beach Municipal Airport will be lead-free, and we will map where this lead is. It's unfortunate that we apparently won't do it sooner rather than later.

David Risinger is a member of the Airport Oversight Committee.

Source:   http://www.tcpalm.com