More than 40 percent of the US population, or 137 million people, live in areas with harmful levels of particulate or ozone pollution, according to the most recent report from the American Lung Association.State of the Air” report card.
That’s 2.1 million people living in counties with unsafe air compared to last year’s report card, and 8.9 million more people affected by daily spikes in life-threatening particulate pollution, the authors found.
“‘State of the Air 2022’ shows that an unacceptable number of Americans still live in areas with poor air quality that could affect their health,” said Harold Wimmer, national president and CEO of the American Lung Association, in a statement.
The Report Card is an annual publication of the Lung Association that tracks and rates exposure to particulate pollution and ground-level pollution, or smog, and to short-term spikes in particulate pollution, or soot.
Each report card covers a three-year period: 2018-2020 in the latest version and 2017-2019 in the previous edition.
While the 2022 report shows long-term air quality improvements, which the authors attributed to emissions reductions, such efforts were offset by the negative impacts of warmer, drier conditions caused by climate change. Wildfires in the West were also responsible for the sharp increase in particulate pollution in several states, the authors noted.
Fine particles — particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter — also known as PM 2.5 — can be especially deadly, the report warned. These microscopic particles, which can come from wildfires, wood stoves, coal-fired power plants and diesel engines, can trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, and can also cause lung cancer.
The State of the Air report assigned two grades to particulate pollution: one for short-term exposure or daily peaks, and a second for annual averages at a specific location. Overall, the regions that fared worst in both categories were in California.
The report found that a total of 63.2 million people lived in the 96 counties that earned an “F” for unhealthy short-term spikes in particulate pollution.
The top five offending regions: 1. Fresno-Madera-Hanford, California; 2. Bakersfield, California; 4. Fairbanks, AK; 4. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California; and 5. Redding-Red Bluff, Calif.
According to the report, more than 20.3 million people live in one of 21 counties where annual particulate pollution exceeded national air quality limits.
The top five offending regions: 1. Bakersfield, California; 2. Fresno-Madera-Hanford, Calif.; Visalia, Calif.; 4. San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California; and 5. Los Angeles-Long Beach, California.
The State of the Air report also found that more than 122.3 million people live in the 156 counties that received a failing grade for ozone pollution.
Ground-level ozone pollution, the authors explained, is “a powerful respiratory irritant whose effects have been compared to sunburn on the lungs.” Exposure to ozone, which is more likely to form in hot weather, can lead to shortness of breath, coughing and asthma attacks and can ultimately shorten life, the report warned.
While the 122.3 million figure is actually 860,000 fewer than the number in last year’s report, it includes millions of people at increased risk of ozone damage, such as 27.8 million children and 18.5 million older adults, according to the report.
The top five ozone violating regions: 1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, California; 2. Bakersfield, California; 3.Visalia, Calif.; 4. Fresno-Madera-Hanford, Calif.; and Phoenix-Mesa, Az.
About 19.8 million people reside in one of the 14 counties that failed all three categories, according to the report. And of these 19.8 million, 14.1 million were people of color.
“Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air,” Wimmer said, noting that people of color were 61% more likely than whites to live in a county with a failing rating for at least one pollutant, and 3.6 times more likely to live in a county that failed in all three.
“The burden of living with unhealthy air is not shared equally,” the authors stated.
While identifying the most troublesome places in the US and emphasizing the disproportionate nature of air pollution impacts, the report also sheds light on which areas of the country are performing best.
The authors identified the cleanest regions, or those places that did not experience days of high ozone or particulate pollution, and ranked among the 25 areas with the lowest annual levels of particulate pollution.
Some of the cleanest places, in alphabetical order: Bangor, Maine.; Burlington-South Burlington-Barre, Vermont; Charlottesville, Virginia; Elmira-Corning, New York; Harrisonburg-Staunton, Va.; Lincoln-Beatrice, Nebraska; Roanoke, Va.; Urban Honolulu, Hawaii; Virginia Beach-Norfolk, Virginia-NC; and Wilmington, North Carolina
Going forward, the American Lung Association called on the Biden administration to tighten national limits on particulate pollution both short-term and year-round.
“Tighter standards will educate the public about the levels of air pollution that threaten their health and drive cleanups of polluting sources in communities across the country,” the authors added.
Reference-thehill.com