Guest column calls on next council to ban leaded aviation fuel at YPK

A guest columnist is calling on the next councils in Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge to support a plan to eliminate leaded aviation fuel at Pitt Meadows Regional Airport, known as YPK. The writer says candidates in this fall’s municipal elections should be asked where they stand on lead pollution from aircraft fuel.

The column says at least six schools, major sports facilities, fields, playgrounds and parks lie within about eight kilometres of the airport. Lead was removed from automotive gasoline in 1990 because of its health effects, particularly on children’s developing brains, but aviation gasoline used by many small piston-engine aircraft still contains it.

Statistics Canada data cited in the column show more than 208,000 aircraft movements at YPK in 2025, roughly twice the level a decade earlier. The writer says most flights use leaded fuel. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration plans to phase out leaded aviation gasoline from piston-engine aircraft by the end of 2030, after U.S. regulators concluded in 2023 that the emissions endanger public health.

The column lists nearby schools, child-care facilities, parks and recreation areas, including Highland Park Elementary, Pitt Meadows Secondary, Pitt Meadows Elementary, Davie Jones Elementary, Edith McDermott Elementary, Canyon Springs Montessori, Hammond Elementary and Maple Ridge Elementary.

The writer does not call for the airport to close, describing aviation as an important economic asset. Instead, the column argues local councils can press Transport Canada for action and support a transition timeline, noting that cleaner alternatives and electric-flight training are emerging in British Columbia.