Distressing findings from this new report by the American Lung Association:
- Almost 125
million Americans live in 216 counties where they are exposed to
unhealthful levels of air pollution in the form of either ozone or
short-term or year-round levels of particles. - Over
81.4 million Americans live in areas where there are too many days of
unhealthy spikes in particle pollution. - Nearly
50 million Americans suffer from chronic exposure to particle
pollution. - About 30.4 million
Americans—roughly one in 10 people—live in 18 counties with
unhealthful levels of all three: ozone and short-term and year-round
particle pollution.
Maps for the cleanest cities and the most polluted.
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Six of the 24 most polluted, or 25%, are in California’s Central Valley (Bakersfield, Visalia, Fresno, Sacramento, Merced, Modesto). Three other California cities make the list (LA, San Diego, El Centro), for a total of nine. Texas has two, no other state has more than one.
Interestingly, of the ones I remember, none of the top 10 creative class cities (Boston, Austin, Boulder, Portland, Seattle, etc.) are on the most polluted list. Is this luck, location or public policy? I don’t know.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Michael- I think Boulder (part of the front range metro) has benefited from public policy. I lived there in the 1990’s and the air quality was horrific (especially on those dreaded temperature inversion winter days). I know a great deal of work/policy was addressing this issue. If I remember correctly, the front range was on the bad air list for awhile at some point during that time period.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Actually, when I moved to Portland in the 1960’s the air was incredibly polluted in the summers. I think it violated federal standards 2 days of three. A move to tie car licenses to pollution inspections made a huge difference. I also remember the smog hanging over Boston in the 70’s, and the car inspections coming in there.
On the other hand, California has strong air pollution standards. The combination of the car culture with long commutes and a geography that puts the Valley and LA both in bowls subject to air inversions overcomes the standards.