Pitt Meadows Airport (YPK) is under fire for its tolerance of aircraft that still use leaded fuel.
A UBC professor is urging the airport to monitor lead emitted from aircraft fuels, and move to cleaner alternatives. Dr. Paul Kershaw has appeared before Pitt Meadows city council to raise his concerns. He is a Pitt Meadows resident of 22 years, and a prof in the UBC School of Population and Public Health.
The U.S. is moving toward phasing out leaded aviation fuel by 2030, he notes, but YPK has increasing air traffic that burns leaded fuel. It now has 10 flight schools that rely on it.
It’s 0ne of the last transportation fuels in North America still containing tetra-ethyl lead – a neurotoxin that has been banned from automotive gas since 1990.
“The remaining exemption for small aircraft should also come to an end — especially now that cleaner alternatives are becoming available,” said Kershaw. “There is no reason to keep poisoning the yards, playgrounds, or sports fields where children live and play.”
Health concerns around leaded aviation fuel intensified following research near Reid-Hillview Airport in California — which he calls a busy flight-training airport similar to YPK. Research found children living closest to the airport had significantly higher blood lead levels, especially those living downwind. Lead exposure is particularly dangerous for children, because even low levels are linked to impacts on brain development.
In response to those findings, Santa Clara County banned the sale of leaded aviation fuel at Reid-Hillview Airport in 2022. In October 2024, the airport became the first in the U.S. to offer an unleaded aviation fuel for piston-powered aircraft.
In 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an “Endangerment Finding” concluding lead emissions from aircraft threaten public health — especially for children. That finding triggered legal obligations for federal regulators to begin phasing out leaded aviation fuel.
“The message from the United States is increasingly clear,” said Kershaw. “Leaded avgas is a dirty, harmful fuel that belongs in the past — while cleaner aviation technologies are the future.”
He said there’s no regular monitoring of airborne lead pollution around YPK, and Transport Canada has not clarified whether Canada plans to phase out leaded aviation gasoline on a similar timeline.
Aircraft activity has surged at Metro Vancouver airports like YPK, he said. YPK had 208,551 aircraft movements in 2025 – roughly 106,000 more takeoffs and landings than a decade earlier. That increase amounts to roughly one additional plane overhead every few minutes during airport operating hours, he noted.
At Boundary Bay Airport, Delta-based company Elibird aero is working to establish Canada’s first all-electric flight training operation using battery-powered aircraft, which Kershaw applauds.
“A forward-looking vision for YPK could include unleaded fuel, electric training aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels, and the high-tech industries that will power the future of flight — all while ending exposure to a poison we banned from car fuel decades ago because it harms children and families,” he said.
In response, the airport released statement, saying it supports Canada’s Aviation Climate Action Plan, with a goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This is led by Transport Canada, and covers the entire aviation sector.The plan calls for green aerospace technologies including electric, hybrid and hydrogen propulsion.
The YPK response noted Transport Canada mandates what specific fuels are safe for Canadian registered aircraft, and it is working with other federal agencies to approve commercially developed unleaded aviation fuel. The transition to safe, unleaded alternatives is on the horizon, but a hard deadline has not been established.
YPK and the cities of Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows support cleaner aviation technologies, unleaded fuel, electric training aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels, and the innovation produced by high-tech industries that will power the future of flight, said the statement from the airport.
Airport Manager Guy Miller recently reports on investmnet and changes at YPK to both city councils, and noted the airport is doing a carbon emissions study this year.
“It’s basically a reduction initiative, to reduce surface emissions at YPK. We’re doing our part, in doing this,” he said. “We’re not even required to do a carbon emissions study – we’re doing that because we think it’s the prudent thing to do.”
The industry is motivated to make changes, and Miller expects to see electric aircraft by 2035, and new aviation fuels.
The airport will focuses on practical emission-reduction measures within its operational control and regulatory authority, said the statement.
Miller’s mandate as airport manager has been growth and job creation.