Just before Earth Day, April 22, 2016, the American Lung Association published its”State of the Air” report. Although the results were more positive than the report released in 2014, more than half of Americans continue to live in areas where they are exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollutants.

The “State of the Air” reports lower levels of year-round particle and ozone pollution attributed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Air Act.

In 2015 the EPA revised its standards for particle and ozone pollution, making them stricter. However, there are experts who believe these stricter standards don’t go far enough.2 You can probably guess some of the cities in the top 10 areas producing the worst air pollution.

✓ Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
✓ Bakersfield, CA
✓ Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, CA
✓ Fresno-Madera, CA
✓ Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
✓ Sacramento-Roseville, CA
✓ Modesto-Merced, CA
✓ Denver-Aurora, CO
✓ Las Vegas-Henderson, NV
✓ Fort Collins, CO

Six of the top 10 worst cities for air pollution are in California. According to the State of the Air report:

“Los Angeles remains the metropolitan area with the worst ozone pollution, as it has for all but one of the 16 reports. However, Los Angeles reported its best air quality ever in the ‘State of the Air’ report’s history, with the lowest average year-round particles and fewest high-ozone and high-particle days.

Bakersfield (CA) returned to the top of both lists for most polluted for particle pollution, thanks to worse year-round and short-term exposures.”

The top 10 cities with the best air quality rating are:

✓ Farmington, NM
✓ Cheyenne, WY
✓ Casper, WY
✓ Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI
✓ Honolulu, HI
✓ Bismarck, ND
✓ Elmira-Corning, NY
✓ Salinas, CA
✓ Redding-Red Bluff, CA

Categories: Articole de interes general