Unrelated to the Health Effect Institute’s report, the American Lung Association released its own State of the Air report.
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“In the past twelve months we’ve seen the best air quality we’ve had on record.” says Heather Heinks with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.
“Despite the recent increase in ozone pollution, the State of the Air 2018 report shows that the Clean Air Act has worked to clean up much of the risky air pollution across the nation for decades”.
Staff with the ALA said that the Pacific Northwest’s biggest pollution problem continues to be particle pollution.
The Modi government has finalised a Rs 637-crore National Clean Air Programme to improve the air quality in India. But it should spell out a time frame – a time-bound programme – for the states to reduce air pollution.
The Grand Rapids Metropolitan Area is tied for 34th most polluted ozone out of 227 metros graded in the nation.
Most ground-level ozone pollution is created when nitrogen oxides react with volatile organic compounds in sunlight.
The report found a continued improvement in fine particle pollution, which is good news for those with respiratory and heart troubles. All counties in the metro area experienced more unhealthy ozone days compared to the year before.
“It’s important to recognize that in the United States, air pollution has been going down”.
Deen said environmental laws have helped in recent decades.
California has operated under a waiver that allowed it to impose tougher requirements than called for under the Clean Air Act. “The exceedances for pollution are largely due to wood burning and they occur in the winter”. We need to decide, she says, “if we are looking for single-win solutions, or win-win solutions”.
Ozone pollution, however, worsened. Kent and Providence counties were both graded “D”.
Bakersfield, California, number two for ozone pollution, also maintained its position as the city with the worst short-term particle pollution.
HEI Vice President Bob O’Keefe told The Guardian that the report showed a growing gap between the most polluted developing countries and the least polluted wealthier ones.
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With respect to ozone pollution, “Los Angeles remains at the top of this list, as it has for all but one of the 19 reports”. They were Phoenix and NY city. Those conditions make air stagnant and produce pollution as particles from auto exhaust and fireplace smoke get into the air.
