State of the Air 2009 report released

[Screw Sacramento]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

The American Lung Association released its annual State of the Air report not long ago and I was looking it over for some specific info.
Most Polluted U.S. Cities by Ozone (http://www.stateoftheair.org/2009/city-rankings/polluted-cities-ozone.html - broken link)
Full report at:
http://www.lungusa.org/assets/docume...eport-2009.pdf

Most media use the Lung Association's wording of "cities" ranked.

But the report used the metro area (MSA and/or CSA) as a city. That combines larger areas and includes multiple counties in a city. For example, that means all of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties is lumped together as the "city" called Los Angeles.

I think it is more useful to look at their rankings of counties.

A county reflects a geographic area that might provide better insights for people, although there is still a big geographic size variation when looking at western counties vs. east coast counties (which are smaller).

So here are the 2009 county rankings for ozone pollution:
1. San Bernardino County, CA
2. Riverside County, CA
3. Kern County, CA
4. Tulare County, CA
5. Los Angeles County, CA
6. Fresno County, CA
7. Harris County, TX
8. El Dorado County, CA
9. Nevada County, CA
10. Placer County, CA
11. Tarrant County, TX
12. Sacramento County, CA
13. Rowan County, NC
14. Maricopa County, AZ
15. Ventura County, CA
16. Imperial County, CA
17. Kings County, CA
18. Clark County, NV
19. Dallas County, TX
20. San Diego County, CA
21. Mecklenburg County, NC
22. Denton County, TX
23. Fairfax County, VA
24. Hamilton County, OH
25. Camden County, NJ
25. Mariposa County, CA

Wow. At first I thought you only brought up the CA list then when I saw a few other states mixed in I realized it was overall/nationwide.

That's too bad for CA. I think a big part of the problem is the "bowl" that comprises the valley; not exactly an environment condusive to blowing out the smog.

When I enter the state capitol they have an air quality chart on the wall and it's usually reading into the smoggy--> hazardous levels. Discouraging. It used to reek havoc on my uncle's allergies being here. My husband just developed allergies last year.

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by Screw Sacramento

Wow. At first I thought you only brought up the CA list then when I saw a few other states mixed in I realized it was overall/nationwide.

That's too bad for CA. I think a big part of the problem is the "bowl" that comprises the valley; not exactly an environment condusive to blowing out the smog.

Not just the Valley but also Southern California, although there are locations in other states on that list without mountains nearby such as Tarrant County TX (that is the Ft. Worth area) and Denton TX (part of Dallas and areas NW of downtown). I expected Harris since that is Houston.

I do like the trend charts to see what is happening.

For example, Fresno and Madera Counties now have ozone levels similiar to what San Diego and Sacramento experienced 10 years ago. I don't expect to live to see 0 days in the future for my area, but that is still a dramatic improvement in a decade.

And I didn't post in the trend charts that some out-of-California areas are getting worse or are just not improving. For example,
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Increased to an average of 38.8 days in 2005-2007 vs. 36.7 days in 1996-1998
http://www.stateoftheair.org/assets/...rts/Dallas.png

Las Vegas/Paradise/Pahrump
Increased to an average of 30.5 days in 2005-2007 vs. 23.8 days in 1996-1998
http://www.stateoftheair.org/assets/.../Las_Vegas.png

St. Louis/St. Charles
Increased to an average of 26.8 days in 2005-2007 vs. 25.3 days in 1996-1998
http://www.stateoftheair.org/assets/...s/St_Louis.png

Kansas City-Overland Park
Increased to an average of 24.3 days in 2005-2007 vs. 20.5 days in 1996-1998
http://www.stateoftheair.org/assets/...ansas_City.png

[Screw Sacramento]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

Not just the Valley but also Southern California, although there are locations in other states on that list without mountains nearby such as Tarrant County TX (that is the Ft. Worth area) and Denton TX (part of Dallas and areas NW of downtown). I expected Harris since that is Houston.

I do like the trend charts to see what is happening.

For example, Fresno and Madera Counties now have ozone levels similiar to what San Diego and Sacramento experienced 10 years ago. I don't expect to live to see 0 days in the future for my area, but that is still a dramatic improvement in a decade.

And I didn't post in the trend charts that some out-of-California areas are getting worse or are just not improving. For example,
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Increased to an average of 38.8 days in 2005-2007 vs. 36.7 days in 1996-1998
http://www.stateoftheair.org/assets/...rts/Dallas.png

Las Vegas/Paradise/Pahrump
Increased to an average of 30.5 days in 2005-2007 vs. 23.8 days in 1996-1998
http://www.stateoftheair.org/assets/.../Las_Vegas.png

St. Louis/St. Charles
Increased to an average of 26.8 days in 2005-2007 vs. 25.3 days in 1996-1998
http://www.stateoftheair.org/assets/...s/St_Louis.png

Kansas City-Overland Park
Increased to an average of 24.3 days in 2005-2007 vs. 20.5 days in 1996-1998
http://www.stateoftheair.org/assets/...ansas_City.png

Yep. Troubling trends. Most of us don't really think about the air around us, but without even thinking about it I think it affects not only our long term health but happiness (the visibility and quality of life, anyway).

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Screw Sacramento

Yep. Troubling trends. Most of us don't really think about the air around us, but without even thinking about it I think it affects not only our long term health but happiness (the visibility and quality of life, anyway).

It certainly affects our health. I'm not so sure about the happiness part. Humans have a way of adapting to what's "normal" even if that norm is reflects a low standard and quickly taking for granted any improvements in quality of life. The air pollution would have to be pretty horrible before it affected the happiness of most of us IMO.

That said, I'm all for cleaner air and am glad things have been going in the right direction in California and most other places as well.

[sms1967]

How the hell is San Luis Obispo on the list of "cleanest" air in the nation... yet San Luis Obispo County gets an "F"? What the F is that about?!!!

[FresnoFacts]

SLO County gets an A for particulate pollution but an F for Ozone. It is only on the cleanest cities for particulates.

According to the Lung Association report, San Luis Obispo County has unhealthy ozone levels an average of 18 days per year.

In the case of SLO County, the ozone blows inland to the Carrizo Plains and Red Hills. The monitors at those two spots record high ozone days about 20 days each year, even though the main cities in the county have only 1 or 2 bad ozone level days a year.

But that is the problem with comparing counties and MSAs or regions.

Counties and other regions in the western states are much larger geographically than in the east. So while much of an area can have good (or decent air quality) there might be part of the area that does poorly that impacts the score for the entire region.