Is smog that bad?

[happ]

Let's not kid ourselves because Los Angeles has the highest poor air quality of any other city in the U.S. We don't see the smog like in the old days but pollutants are there, none-the-less. I never get burning eyes & it's rare if I can smell the bad air. But if you ever drive from Palm Springs to LA on a calm day you can see & smell the foul air driving down into San Bernardino out of the San Gorgonio pass.

The shipyards are being required to restrict some of the worst pollutants & want more time since foreign ships will need to install "scrubbers."

[rebagirl]

The first link shows the air quality of where I used to live--L.A. county. The second link is where I now live. Many of you are in complete denial. How sad. The smog in Los Angeles is very real and very dangerous.


Los Angeles



Arapahoe

Hopefully these links will go through. If not, select a zip code and the air quality for that area will come up.

[rebagirl]

And here's one more:

Most Polluted: Year-Round Particle Pollution

Los Angeles ranks worst in the nation every year.

[FresnoFacts]

The EPA lowered the limits for exposure to particles (dust and soot) in the air this year.

Now the Bay Area and Sacramento are no longer considered to have clean air.

They have put in place fireplace limits in both areas, that is causing a real uproar in the Bay Area.

This federal govt map shows all the areas that have particle pollution problems with the air needing cleanup from dust and soot. Notice the large swath of California from San Francisco and Chico down to Orange County and out to Imperial County.
Map of 24-Hour PM2.5 Nonattainment Areas | Area Designations for 2006 24-Hour Fine Particle (PM2.5) Standards | US EPA

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

The smog has decreased in the LA area over the past 20 years. Look at the cars that used to drive on the roads just 20 years ago and look at what is on the roads now. The cars and trucks of today polute less than cars that we used to drive. A Hummer is more fuel efficient and clean burning than my old 71 olds Cutless was. (A Hummer also has a smaller environmental footprint than a Prius does, You don't replace hundreds of pounds of batteries in a Hummer like you have to in a Prius or any other Hybrid.) Corporations have also cleaned up their acts. We are putting less stuff in the air per 1000 people than we ever did.

[rebagirl]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

The smog has decreased in the LA area over the past 20 years. Look at the cars that used to drive on the roads just 20 years ago and look at what is on the roads now. The cars and trucks of today polute less than cars that we used to drive. A Hummer is more fuel efficient and clean burning than my old 71 olds Cutless was. (A Hummer also has a smaller environmental footprint than a Prius does, You don't replace hundreds of pounds of batteries in a Hummer like you have to in a Prius or any other Hybrid.) Corporations have also cleaned up their acts. We are putting less stuff in the air per 1000 people than we ever did.

I do agree with this. I remember growing up in the L.A. area, often unable to see any sign of the nearby mountains, and having to come inside due to a sharp pain in my lungs while playing.

However, although some progress has been made, there's no disputing the fact that Los Angeles is still by FAR the worst in air quality. The facts are there.

[slough]

Originally Posted by gmb

I guess if you are asking the question you have never been to LA on a hot, summer day or any day for that matter. It is disgusting and when you fly into LAX you can really get a good idea about what it is like. It burns your eyes, throat and makes your skin/hair feel dirty. I don't want to know what it does to your lungs. Nothing is better than sitting on the 405 stuck in traffic breathing in the fumes......

During high ozone days, the freeway is the best place to be if you're outside. Ozone is essentially zero there because nitric oxide produced by cars converts ozone to oxygen.

This is, of course, assuming you can avoid all the black carbon spewing from diesel trucks!

[BRinSM]

i actually read somewhere a whlie back that a couple of big mining areas in pennsylvania and tennessee topped LA for dirtiest air in the country. although it can't be healthy to inhale the car exhaust in the air here, it can't be worse than smoke from coal burning.

LA air pollution is not that bad. if you want to see how nasty air polltion can get take a trip to China. I head they cleaned up Beijing for the olympics (which had nasty air when I was there 2.5 years ago), but i'm guessing that other more industrial cities haven't limited their polluting one bit.

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by BRinSM

i actually read somewhere a whlie back that a couple of big mining areas in pennsylvania and tennessee topped LA for dirtiest air in the country.

Pittsburgh and Los Angeles were number one and number 2 for particulate matter in the the 2008 Lung Association rankings. They swapped places depending upon the measurement. Mining and coal burning put a lot of particulates in the air

But California still has a lot of overall particulate problems without mining. As the map I linked above shows it is the largest region the EPA says is not meeting national standards.

The 2008 Lung Assocation rankings were:
Top Ten U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Short-Term Particle Pollution: 1) Pittsburgh, Pa.; 2) Los Angeles/Long Beach/Riverside, Calif.; 3) Fresno/Madera, Calif.; 4) Bakersfield, Calif.; 5) Birmingham, Ala.; 6) Logan, Utah 7) Salt Lake City, Utah ; 8) Sacramento, Calif.; 9) Detroit, Mich.; 10) Baltimore, Md./Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia.
Top Ten U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution: 1) Los Angeles/Long Beach/Riverside, Calif.; 2) Pittsburgh, Pa.; 3) Bakersfield, Calif.; 4) Birmingham, Ala.; 5) Visalia/Porterville, Calif.; 6) Atlanta, Ga.; 7) Cincinnati, Ohio; 8) Fresno/Madera, Calif. 9) Hanford/Corcoran, Calif.; 10) Detroit, Mich.
Top Ten U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Ozone: 1) Los Angeles/Long Beach/Riverside, Calif.; 2) Bakersfield, Calif.; 3) Visalia/Porterville, Calif.; 4) Houston, Texas; 5) Fresno/Madera, Calif. 6) Sacramento, Calif. 7) Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; 8) New York, N.Y./Newark, N.J.; 9) Baltimore, Md./Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia; 10) Baton Rouge, La.
Search Press Releases - American Lung Association site