It’s a title nobody wants, but the Los Angeles-Long Beach metropolitan area was again named the most ozone-polluted region in the nation in an annual air-quality report released Wednesday, April 19, by the American Lung Association, as Western states continued to outpace the East in terms of poor air.
The Los Angeles-Long Beach region has been ranked the nation’s worst ozone-polluted area in 23 of the 24 years that the Lung Association has produced its State of the Air report, although the association noted that the area improved slightly from last year in terms of unhealthy ozone days and particle pollution days.
According to the report, more than 98% of California residents live in areas that earned failing grades for unhealthy ozone pollution days, unhealthy particle pollution days or annual particle pollution levels. More than 40% of residents are in areas with failing grades for each of those pollutants.
“Local and state actions have driven real progress in California, but there is much work to be done to ensure every Californian has clean, healthy air to breathe,” Mariela Ruacho, Clean Air Advocacy manager for the Lung Association, said in a statement. “Even one poor air quality day is one too many for children, older adults, people with chronic illness, lower-income residents and people of color. Policymakers at the local, state and federal levels must act to ensure that everyone has clean air to breathe, and no community is left behind.”
In terms of ozone pollution, six California areas ranked in the top 10 for worst conditions. Joining Los Angeles-Long Beach on the list were Visalia, Bakersfield, Fresno-Madera-Hanford, Sacramento-Roseville and San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad. The San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland region ranked 11th worst.
Of the 25 worst regions, virtually all were in Western states, with only the Chicago area and Hartford, Connecticut, making the list.
“Although cleanup of ozone precursor pollutants has been working to…
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