Van Nuys Airport Still Lacks Clear Warnings on Toxic Aircraft Fuel

This article was supported by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

One of the busiest general aviation hubs in the United States, Van Nuys Airport is a major revenue generator for the city of Los Angeles and a frequent stop for celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift. But for years, residents living nearby have complained about the noise and pollution it produces. They have also faulted airport officials and the businesses that operate there for failing to provide proper notice of the potential harms of being exposed to aircraft emissions.

In 2014, three aviation businesses with facilities at Van Nuys Airport agreed to a settlement after an Oakland-based environmental group sued them over alleged violations of Proposition 65, a California law that requires businesses to provide warnings of exposure to chemicals that cause cancer or other harms. At Van Nuys Airport, the chemical in question is leaded avgas, an aviation fuel used by propeller planes that has been linked to serious health issues, including cognitive impairments and developmental delays in children.

Just over ten years later, Capital & Main found no notices posted in the five locations where the companies had agreed to display Proposition 65 signs warning of potential exposure to the leaded gas. Nor were such signs visible in the publicly accessible areas of the businesses named in the settlement with the Center for Environmental Health. 

Matt McManus, who bought a home in Lake Balboa, across the street from Van Nuys Airport, in 2020, attributed the businesses’ failure to post signs to “arrogance.” 

“If someday they do post signage, I think they’d be taking the first step toward something they are diametrically opposed to doing: admitting they are responsible for adversely affecting the health of the community,” McManus said.
 

“I would probably sleep a lot safer at night if we did not have this potentially hazardous collection of gases surrounding us at any given time.”

~ Matt McManus, Lake Balboa resident

 
The businesses listed in the settlement agreement are Castle & Cooke Aviation, Maguire Aviation Group and Signature Flight Support — all of which provide fueling and maintenance services to aircraft at Van Nuys Airport. The Van Nuys Airport assets of Maguire Aviation Group were acquired by Signature Flight Support in 2014. The companies — known as Fixed Based Operators — collectively agreed to post three Proposition 65 warning signs, each at least 24-by-24 inches, in publicly visible locations around Van Nuys Airport.

Capital & Main did find two Proposition 65 signs warning of the potential harms linked to leaded avgas exposure, but they were not posted in a location where they were likely to be seen by the general public. The signs were affixed to fences inside private property, surrounding hangar space that belongs to Sun Air Jets LLC. The settlement agreement requires Sun Air Jets to post Proposition 65 warning signs at its Camarillo Airport location. The company is not required by the agreement to post any Proposition 65 warning signs at Van Nuys Airport.

Castle & Cooke did not respond to Capital & Main’s request for comment. A Signature representative said it is company policy not to comment on litigation.

Some residents of the airport-adjacent neighborhoods of Lake Balboa and Van Nuys say that when they moved to the area, they were unaware that they would be living in close proximity to a source of pollution that could represent a health risk. 

“I would probably sleep a lot safer at night if we did not have this potentially hazardous collection of gases surrounding us at any given time,” said McManus. 

A father of a 2-year old, McManus said that neither his real estate agent nor the previous owner of his home warned him of the potential hazards of living near the airport. McManus also said he never saw a Proposition 65 sign warning of the hazards of avgas posted around the perimeter of the airport, despite the settlement agreement requiring it.

Matt McManus holds his son and points up to an airplane outside his home near the Van Nuys Airport. Photo: Jeremy Lindenfeld.

Capital & Main did find at least three Proposition 65 warning signs for another chemical compound at Van Nuys Airport: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), including one that was posted on an exterior fence that is adjacent to the Lake Balboa neighborhood. The compound, a known carcinogen, is part of a broader class of environmentally persistent chemicals often used to suppress jet fuel fires. Sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals,” PFAS can take centuries to break down. PFOA has not sparked the same alarm among residents as their daily exposure to leaded aviation fuel. 

Capital & Main spoke to Van Nuys Airport Manager Jacob Haik in October of last year about the absence of Proposition 65 signs warning of the dangers posed by leaded avgas.

“We should have those warning signs posted,” Haik said at the time. “I’m happy to make sure that our [fixed based operators] have the appropriate signage up. Hopefully it was just a misunderstanding; maybe a sign fell down or they put it in the wrong place.” 

But seven months later, the signs had still not been posted. Haik did not make himself available for comment after repeated requests made in April. 

The settlement assigns the businesses named in the agreement the responsibility to coordinate with airport officials in posting warnings about the potential hazards of their operations. Van Nuys Airport is owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports, a proprietary department of the city of Los Angeles.

Businesses have several options for satisfying Proposition 65 warning requirements, said Allan Hirsch, an information officer for the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
 

In 2008, Van Nuys Airport was responsible for more lead emissions than any other airport in the United States.

 
“Our regulations say that if you are exposing people outside of your facility to a Prop. 65 chemical, that you’re required to provide a warning,” Hirsch said. “One [option] would be warnings mailed or emailed to people who are being exposed. Under the [regulations], the business still can come up with its own options for informing people as long as the warning is clear and reasonable.”

Capital & Main could not find any warnings for potential exposure to leaded avgas on any of the websites of the companies named in the settlement agreement. The Los Angeles World Airports website does not contain any dedicated content that warns the public of the potential hazards of exposure to pollutants generated by airport traffic, either. LAWA’s website does have pages and documents addressing other environmental initiatives relating to LAX and Van Nuys Airport.

Public agencies like Los Angeles World Airports are not required to post Proposition 65 warning signs, the California Attorney General’s Office told Capital & Main in a statement.

In 2008, Van Nuys Airport was responsible for more lead emissions than any other airport in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. More recently, EPA data from 2017 lists Van Nuys Airport as seventh among lead-emitting airports in the nation.

Neighborhoods bordering Van Nuys Airport rank as high as the 98th percentile in overall pollution burden statewide, according to an analysis using CalEnviroScreen 4.0, a state tool developed by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to identify pollution-impacted communities. People living in those census tracts — adjacent to Van Nuys Airport and the 405 Freeway — also experience highly elevated asthma rates and above average low birth rates.

Lead was identified as a possible human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 1987. Additionally, lead exposure can cause damage to the brain and nervous system in children, among a variety of other health effects in people young and old, according to the EPA.

Airplanes at the Van Nuys Airport. Photo: Jeremy Lindenfeld.

Activists have previously raised concerns with state and local officials about the lack of Prop. 65 signs warning of the dangers of leaded avgas at the airport, but their efforts have yielded little to no action.

“I’ve contacted [the California] attorney general several times, saying, ‘You’re not doing this. You’re not following through and it’s not something they care about,’” said Gary Keller, a former activist with the Center for Environmental Health who has since moved to Florida. “It’s not important enough to them.”

The Office of the Attorney General said it “will not be able to comment on, even to confirm or deny, a potential or ongoing investigation or to provide legal analysis.” 

Late last year, the Center for Environmental Health filed a motion in Alameda Superior Court alleging that fuel service providers, including two at Van Nuys Airport, had violated their 2014 settlement agreement by failing to switch to unleaded fuel — which the environmental group argues is commercially available. The motion made no mention of alleged violations of Prop. 65. Lexington Law Group, the firm that represents the Center for Environmental Health in the ongoing litigation, declined to comment on whether the companies named in the settlement agreement were complying with the state’s Proposition 65 disclosure law. 

Amidst a national effort to phase out leaded avgas, businesses at Van Nuys Airport continue to import hundreds of thousands of gallons of leaded fuel annually to supply  the nearly 300 piston engine propeller planes based at the airport.

In 2024, businesses at the airport received 466,008 gallons of leaded avgas, a 27.6% increase from 2023, according to airport records obtained by Capital & Main.

Many of the lead-fuel-burning propeller planes at Van Nuys Airport are used at one of the 19 flight schools at the airfield. Their frequent “touch-and-go” maneuvers and early turns over surrounding neighborhoods have sparked noise complaints and growing health concerns in recent months.

“It has never been like this. Never. I’m representing 330 homeowners,” said Cathy Cressy, a real estate agent and 35-year resident of Van Nuys. “I’m speaking on behalf of people much older than I am. They’re sick. They can’t go in their backyards. They can’t sit by their pool. They can’t walk their dogs.”

Cressy said her business has suffered as a result of the increased air traffic and corresponding noise from Van Nuys Airport.

“We’re losing sales. I’ve lost two escrows … we do the walkthrough or the inspections … the people look up, they go, ‘I can’t live like this. I’m not gonna spend a million dollars or $500,000 or $2.5 [million] and live like this.’”

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