Pittsburgh overtook Los Angeles in the category that measures short-term particle pollution or soot. Los Angeles, the country’s longtime soot and smog leader, has enacted aggressive measures to tackle sources of pollution, resulting in a substantial drop in particle pollution levels, said Janice Nolen, the [American Lung Association]’s assistant vice president of national policy and advocacy.
“It’s not that Pittsburgh has gotten worse; it’s that Los Angeles has gotten better,” Nolen said. “If the trend continues, Pittsburgh will top two lists, and L.A. will only be leading the nation in ozone.”
Still, Los Angeles held its own in two other categories measuring year-round soot levels and smog. And statewide, 26 of California’s 52 counties with air quality monitoring stations got failing grades for having either high ozone days or particle pollution days.
The association’s “State of the Air: 2008” report, being released today, was based on air quality measurements reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by state and local agencies between 2004 and 2006. The study looks at three key pollution measures.
The eight metropolitan areas considered to be the nation’s most polluted by every measure were Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Visalia-Porterfield and Hanford-Corcoran, all in California; Washington-Baltimore; St. Louis; and Birmingham, Ala.
The cleanest cities were Fargo, N.D., and Salinas, Calif.
Well, at least Houston/Harris County didn’t make the bottom ten, even if we did get a failing grade. You want clean air, go move to Hays County. At least for now, they get an A.
This stuff is all based on last summer. You remember last summer? Very unusual. Lots of rain. Lots of cooler temps. Not much ozone pollution.
This summer will not be so kind.
Well up here in Pgh they went ahead and printed up the full list of the top 10 cities for total sootiest days. Now, I can live with Pgh being on the list — we have a reputation y’know.
But I was more impressed that Logan, Utah, in whose exurbs I went to high school, clocked in at #6. It is after all a very small town. Now there are geographic reasons why it made that particular list, but I don’t often see its name on the front page of the local paper!