Who says the air is bad in Phoenix? (Maricopa: smog, work)

[BurtsBees]

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/myfox/pa...Y&pageId=1.1.1

Here is a complete list of the American Lung Association's most polluted U.S. urban areas by year-round particle pollution:

1: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, Calif.
2: Pittsburgh-New Castle, Pa.
3: Bakersfield, Calif.
4: Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, Ala.
5: Detroit-Warren-Flint, Mich.
6: Cleveland-Akron-Elyria, Ohio
7: Visalia-Porterville, Calif.
8: Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, Ohio, Ky., Ind.
9: Indianapolis-Anderson-Columbus, Ind.
10: St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, Mo., Ill.
11: Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City, Ill., Ind., Wis. (tie)
11: Lancaster, Pa.
13: Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, Ga., Ala.
14: York-Hanover-Gettysburg, Pa.
15: Fresno-Madera, Calif. (tie)
15: Weirton-Steubenville, W.Va., Ohio
17: Hanford-Corcoran, Calif. (tie)
17: New York-Newark-Bridgeport, N.Y., N.J., Conn.
19: Canton-Massillon, Ohio
20: Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, D.C., Md., Va. (tie)
20: Charleston, W.Va.
22: Louisville-Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, Ky., Ind.
23: Huntington-Ashland, W.Va., Ky., Ohio
24: Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, Pa., N.J., Del., Md. (tie)
24: Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Md., W.Va.
24: Rome, Ga.

We're #5 here in Detroit, but hey, Im looking forward to the cleaner air in AZ

[Steve-o]

These pollution lists are a joke... there are sooooo many variances in them. Years ago they said Chicago had great air, the next year one of the worst??? Anyways, no doubt PHXs air leaves something to be desired (any valley city is like that), but its not that bad. A visible pollution clowd is almost ever-present, but not as bad as LA's.

Here 3 Chicago suburbs made the cleanest air survey last year. The year before not even close. I dont get it....

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/money...tpolluted.html

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

These pollution lists are a joke... there are sooooo many variances in them. Years ago they said Chicago had great air, the next year one of the worst??? Anyways, no doubt PHXs air leaves something to be desired (any valley city is like that), but its not that bad. A visible pollution clowd is almost ever-present, but not as bad as LA's.

Here 3 Chicago suburbs made the cleanest air survey last year. The year before not even close. I dont get it....

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/money...tpolluted.html

It has a lot to do with weather. In areas that are marginal a couple bad inversions, a strong and persistent high pressure system etc, can cause a couple readings to push into the red zone and there goes your rating by Lung Association (and EPA).

Phoenix actually has very few days in the red zones with a lot in the moderate category. 2005 was a terrible year with the longest dry spell ever. In contrast, I don't think we had a particulate violation this winter season. And there were only like 9 or 10 ozone violations last summer. The moderate stuff day in and day out though is still annoying - visually at least - and downright irritating to many sensitive persons.

In spite of what people say some of the pollution problems are sooo much better though than when I first moved here. There were CO violations on something like 250+ days a year. I don't think there has been a CO violation in a long time thanks to auto emission controls. Same thing with ozone, there has been an improvement over the years. PM10 has gotten worse though. We can do a lot better. We still have work to do.

[jco]

I agree, Steve-O. The most popular list of places for asthmatics to live weighs poverty level, number of asthma specialists, and smoking laws evenly with how clean the air actually is.

[AksarbeN]

BurtsBees

I would believe the post and the link if it didn’t have the FOX network connected with it! However thank you for posting it.


Clean air in Phoenix,,,,,,, have you ever been in a Mexican food restaurant that serves “bean burritos”?

[sheena]

Originally Posted by AksarbeN

BurtsBees

I would believe the post and the link if it didn’t have the FOX network connected with it! However thank you for posting it.


Clean air in Phoenix,,,,,,, have you ever been in a Mexican food restaurant that serves “bean burritos”?

Can someone grab a CNN report so we will have hard evidence the report is accurate

[AksarbeN]

There was something in the news just the other day about Phoenix not getting a billion in government money next year if they don’t have a better plan on cutting air pollution in the valley. I understood that ADOT was rethinking the traffic on I-10 between the route 51 and the Superstition exchange. If memory serves me correctly that stretch of freeway is called the Maricopa Freeway. Because of growth in the valley and more traffic that piece of concrete has been redone more times then I care to remember since the 1980s. I think it’s the disposable freeway being used for a while and then tossed away and redone again.

I am in favor of improvements and cleaner air however!

[james203]

i live and work in the # 1 smog area in ca & you can actually taste & feel the smog in your chest.i sometimes have trouble breathing when im outdoors for a short period of time during the long hot,smoggy & dry summers.the smog blocks the view of the mountains.

[LVGAZ]

If you look in the American Lung Association State of the Year report for 2007
http://www.mercola.com/.../air_quali...d_worst_cities
you will see MAricopa County in Arizona rates an "F" with a 25 day orange alert
Pinal County rates a "D"
there is no clean air here - it is stagnate air - because we don't have changes of the seasons or weather patterns - we emit smoke, fumes, into the air and we sit in a valley so - we have a "hat" on -
It was not like this when the population was much lower say even 12-15 years ago - more people - more smog, more pollution
We do not have a trans system here - - which allows commuters to commute grouply to work - we are forced to all use our vehicles -

[irwin]

No pollution in Phoenix?

How now brown cloud?