Smoke hangs over the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge in San Francisco, California, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
California and other Western states are experiencing dirtier air quality because of worsening heat, drought and wildfires, and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to pollution, in response to a report published by the American Lung Association on Wednesday.
The “State of the Air” report found that just about 120 million people, greater than a 3rd of the population, lived in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution between 2019 and 2021. And greater than 64 million people of color lived in counties with higher levels of pollution, comprising greater than half of people that live with unhealthy air quality, the report showed.
Cities within the Western U.S., where climate change has driven worsening heat waves, drought and wildfires, ranked amongst the very best polluted areas for ground-level ozone pollution and high-quality particulate-matter air pollution, the report found.
The report assigned letter grades reflecting the variety of days that air quality in a selected area reached unhealthy levels on the Air Quality Index. Particle pollution refers to tiny pollutants from sources like factories, power plants, vehicles and wildfires, while ozone smog comes from vehicles, factories or other industrial sources.
Between 2019 and 2021, roughly 103 million people lived within the 124 counties that earned an F grade for ozone smog. Exposure to unhealthy levels of ozone air pollution makes respiratory difficult for more people across the U.S. than another single pollutant, the report said.
Californian cities lead the rankings of probably the most polluted cities within the country:
Top 10 cities with the worst ozone pollution:
- Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
- Visalia, CA
- Bakersfield, CA
- Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA
- Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
- Denver-Aurora, CO
- Sacramento-Roseville, CA
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
- Houston-The Woodlands, TX
- Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, UT
Meanwhile, greater than than 64 million Americans reside in counties with F grades for spikes in day by day particle pollution. Wildfires within the region were a significant component within the increasing variety of days and places with unhealthy levels of particle pollution, the report found.
Bakersfield, which is situated north of LA, ranked No. 1 for each day by day and year-round particle pollution:
Top 10 cities with the worst day by day particle pollution:
- Bakersfield, CA
- Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA
- Fairbanks, AK
- Visalia, CA
- Reno-Carson City-Fernley, NV
- San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
- Redding-Red Bluff, CA
- Sacramento-Roseville, CA
- Chico, CA
- Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
Top 10 cities with the worst year-round particle pollution:
- Bakersfield, CA
- Visalia, CA
- Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA
- Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
- Fairbanks, AK
- Sacramento-Roseville, CA
- Medford-Grants Pass, OR
- Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
- San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
- Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN
Air pollution takes greater than two years off the common global life expectancy, in response to the Energy Policy Institute on the University of Chicago. Sixty percent of particulate-matter air pollution comes from fossil fuel combustion.
The report found that folks of color are almost 4 times as likely as white people to reside in an area with unhealthy ozone smog and particle pollution levels.
Harold Wimmer, national president and CEO of the American Lung Association, in an announcement, said national ozone pollution levels are improving but that “not all communities are seeing improvements.”
“Because of this it’s crucial to proceed our efforts to make sure that one and all within the U.S. has clean air to breathe,” Wimmer said.
The report used data from air-quality monitors managed by state, local and tribal air pollution control authorities in counties across the country. The authors noted that greater than 71 million Americans live in counties where ozone and particle pollution levels are currently not being monitored.
The authors of the report noted that climate change is making it tougher to guard human health because disasters like heat, drought and wildfires are exacerbating high ozone levels and increases in high-quality particulate matter.
The American Lung Association called on the Biden administration to maneuver forward with several measures to scrub up national air pollution, including recent limits on ozone and particle pollution and recent measures to mitigate emissions from power plants and vehicles.
