A federal judge in California has asked for more information before deciding whether to dismiss a case affecting the sale of avgas in California, the National Air Transportation Association reported this week. In a hearing last week in Fresno, Judge Anthony Ishii requested additional briefings to be filed by Wednesday before ruling on a motion to dismiss the case. His decision is expected within a week. The case was brought by a coalition of California FBOs and avgas distributors, who have asked the court to derail a suit brought by the Center for Environmental Health over the sale of leaded avgas.
The CEH said in May it intended to file suit in California state court in an effort to stop the sale of avgas in the state. The CEH later said if the sale of avgas didn’t stop, the FBOs and distributors should provide warnings to nearby residents and anyone passing near the airport that the lead emitted by piston-engine aircraft “causes cancer and reproductive toxicity,” NATA said. The CEH also called for payment of civil penalties as high as $1.3 billion per company. A coalition of the companies named by the CEH have asked the federal court to stop the CEH from continuing its suit because it would contradict federal laws, but CEH has asked the court to dismiss their case. If the court denies the motion to dismiss, a hearing will be held in Fresno on Oct. 26 to argue the merits of the avgas coalition’s case, NATA said. AVweb‘s Glenn Pew spoke with Eric Byer and Andy Steinberg, from NATA, about the avgas suit back in July; click here for that podcast.
