California FBOs Told To Start Selling G100UL When It’s ‘Commercially Available’ (Updated)

Lawyers for a California environmental group say most if not all FBOs in California will be required to offer 100LL with General Aviation Modifications Inc.'s (GAMI's) G100UL starting in the first half of 2024 thanks to a nine-year-old court ruling. The consent judgment, issued in favor of the Center for Environmental Health in December of 2014 by the California Superior Court in Alameda, says that as soon as there's an approved commercially available replacement for 100LL, FBOs have to sell 100LL. CEH's lawyers say they will be allowed to continue to sell 100LL but will also have to stock unleadd fuel. GAMI disagrees with that interpretation and says the FBOs will be compelled to sell only its fuel or another fuel that has no lead in it. CEH's lawyers have sent notice to all California FBOs to stock G100UL as soon as it becomes commercially available to them. If they don't, they could be found in contempt and face heavy fines.

GAMI head of engineering George Braly said Vitol Aviation, the producer/refiner now licensed to produce G100UL, is scheduled to produce large batches of the fuel later in the spring. Braly said it will "take a few months" to ramp up production and to supply all of the dozens of fuel sellers covered by the order, after which it will be able to maintain a steady supply to them.

CEH filed a lawsuit in 2011 against all the 100LL fuel sellers in California for exposing people to lead, and three years later settled the case. The settlement required anyone selling 100LL to post signs explaining the lead content and attendant risks. It also requires that "Settling Defendants distribute and sell the airplane fuel with the lowest lead content that is Commercially Available."

In its December 2023 letter to the FBOs and other fuel distributors, CEH lawyer Mark Todzo said G100UL fulfills those requirements. "It can and should therefore serve as a lower lead replacement for the 100LL fuel you are presently distributing," the letter says. "Production of G100UL has now begun such that it will be available to [those named in the order] for distribution and sale in California by early 2024." We have contacted major FBO chains by email for comment but may not hear from them until after the long weekend.

As we reported last week, GAMI signed a production agreement with Vitol late last year and became the first licensed producer of the fuel. The company has received all the necessary approvals to make and distribute G100UL. Braly said the raw cost of the components in the fuel vary with the price of crude oil but over the past year have averaged 85 cents to $1.15 per gallon more to make than 100LL. It's not clear how that will translate to the price at the pump after going through wholesale, distribution and retailing steps in the supply chain. Aircraft operators will also have to buy an STC for each airplane using G100UL and the cost depends on the horsepower of the engine(s) on the aircraft. AOPA and a major California flight school, California Aeronautical University, are demonstrating the fuel in a pair of Beech Barons at the Buckeye Air Fair in Arizona over the weekend.