Executive Summary

Executive Summary | 2005-2007 | Tables | Methodology | Acknowledgements | Download Report

UPDATE: Listen to an overview of this report here.

Air pollution continues to threaten the lives and health of millions of people in the United States despite great progress since the modern Clean Air Act was first passed in 1970. Even as the nation explores the complex challenges of global warming and energy, air pollution remains widespread and dangerous.

This year marks the tenth annual American Lung Association State of the Air report and provides an excellent opportunity to look back over the changes in the past ten years. This 2009 report looks at ozone and particle pollution year-round (annual average) and over short-term levels
(24-hour) of particle pollution (PM2.5) found in monitoring sites across the United States in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Ozone
In March 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted a new, tighter standard for ozone pollution. Measured against the new standard, the air quality in many new places failed to meet the test. Other communities with a long history of ozone problems face an even more serious challenge. Evaluating the most recent data against the new standard, the American Lung Association found that approximately 175.4 million Americans live in counties where ozone monitors recorded too many days with unhealthy ozone levels, far more than the 92.5 million identified in the State of the Air 2008 report.

Progress in reducing ozone shows up even when using the new standard to look backward. The American Lung Association analysis shows that ozone levels have improved in some of the cities facing the greatest burden, such as Los Angeles and Houston. However, so does the impact of warmer summers and continuing pollution challenges: Sixteen of the cities in this year’s 25 most polluted experienced a worsening problem with ozone since last year’s report, including Charlotte, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Cincinnati.

Year-round particle pollution
Particle pollution improved in 9 of the cities in the list of the 25 most polluted by year-round levels, including five cities which recorded their best levels since the report began covering particle pollution in 2004: Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Atlanta, York, PA and Lancaster, PA. However, the annual average level of particles worsened in 12 cities, including Bakersfield, CA which took over the most polluted ranking from Los Angeles, and Houston, TX which this year moved into the list of the 25 cities most-polluted by particle pollution for the first time.

Short-term particle pollution
Eleven cities experienced fewer days, or fewer severe days, of unhealthy levels of particle pollution in the State of the Air 2009 report, including Pittsburgh, the city ranked number one on the list of cities most polluted by short-term exposure to particles. All eleven showed continued improvement since the 2007 report, which first incorporated the tighter standards for short-term levels of particle pollution. Unfortunately, 13 cities had more days—or more severe days—of particle pollution in the 2009 report than in last year’s report. Eleven of those cities had consistently increased the number of days or the severity of the levels of particle pollution in the past three reports.

Cleanest cities
Fargo-Wahpeton, ND-MN emerged as the cleanest city in the U.S., the only city to appear on all three lists of cleanest cities. Seventeen cities appeared on two of the three lists of cleanest cities: Billings, MT; Bismarck, ND; Cheyenne, WY; Colorado Springs, CO; Farmington, NM; Ft. Collins, CO; Honolulu, HI; Lincoln, NE; Midland-Odessa, TX; Port St. Lucie, FL; Pueblo, CO; Redding, CA; Salinas, CA; San Luis Obispo, CA; Santa Fe-Espanola, NM; Sioux Falls, ND; and Tucson, AZ.

Looking at the nation as a whole, the American Lung Association State of the Air 2009 finds:

• Six out of ten people (61.7%) in the United States population lives in counties that have unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution. Almost 186.1 million Americans live in the 525 counties where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of air pollution in the form of either ozone or short-term or year-round levels of particles.
  
  
• Roughly six out of ten people in the United States— 58 percent—live in areas with unhealthful levels of ozone. This reflects the much lower threshold for unhealthy ozone as well as warmer temperatures in much of the eastern U.S. Counties that were graded F for ozone levels have a combined population of 175.4 million. These people live in the 485 counties where the monitored air quality places them at risk for lower lung function, respiratory infection, lung inflammation and aggravation of respiratory illness. The actual number who breathe unhealthy levels of ozone is likely much larger, since this number does not include people who live in adjacent counties in metropolitan areas where no monitors exist. Note that this number is much greater than previous State of the Air reports because this estimate is based on the new national standards for ozone adopted in 2008. This increase does not represent that ozone levels have worsened; rather, this means that the problem of ozone is much more widespread than previously recognized.
  
  
• Roughly three out of ten people in the United States live in an area with unhealthful short-term levels of particle pollution, an increase from the last report. Over 92.7 million Americans live in 134 counties that experienced too many days with unhealthy spikes in particle pollution, an increase from the last report. Short-term spikes in particle pollution can last from hours to several days and can increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and emergency-room visits for asthma and cardiovascular disease, and most importantly, can increase the risk of early death.
  
  
• One in six people in the United States lives in an area with unhealthful year-round levels of particle pollution. Just over 47 million U.S. residents live in areas where chronic levels are regularly a threat to their health. Even when levels are fairly low, exposure to particles over time can increase risk of hospitalization for asthma, damage to the lungs and, significantly, increase the risk of premature death.
  
  
  
• Just under one in eight people—roughly 40.5 million in the United States—live in the 37 counties with unhealthful levels of all three: ozone and short-term and year-round particle pollution. With the risks from airborne pollution so great, the American Lung Association seeks to inform people who may be in danger. Many people are at greater risk because of their age or because they have asthma or other chronic lung, cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Here are the numbers of people in each at-risk group.
  
  
• People with Asthma—Approximately 4 million children and 10.9 million adults with asthma live in parts of theUnited States with very high levels of ozone. Over 5.7 million adults and over 2.1 million children with asthma live in areas with high levels of short-term particle pollution. Over 2.8 million adults and nearly 1.1 million children with asthma live in counties with unhealthful levels of year-round particle pollution.
  
  
• Older and Younger— Over 20.4 million adults age 65 and over and nearly 44 million children age 18 and under live in counties with unhealthful ozone levels. Nearly 10.7 million seniors and 23.3 million children live in counties with unhealthful short-term levels of particle pollution. Nearly 5.3 million seniors and over 12 million children live in counties with unhealthful levels of year-round particle pollution.
  
  
• Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema—Over 4.4 million people with chronic bronchitis and over 2.1 million people with emphysema live in counties with unhealthful ozone levels. Over 2.3 million people with chronic bronchitis and over 1.1 million people with emphysema live in counties with unhealthful levels of short-term particle pollution. Nearly 1.2 million people with chronic bronchitis and nearly 556,000 people with emphysema live in counties with unhealthful year-round levels of particle pollution.
  
  
• Cardiovascular Disease—Nearly 24.5 million people with cardiovascular diseases live in areas with unhealthful levels of short-term particle pollution; nearly 12.2 million people live in counties with unhealthful levels of year-round particle pollution. Cardiovascular diseases include coronary heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, hypertension and angina pectoris.
  
  
• Diabetes—Over 5.2 million people with diabetes live in areas with unhealthful levels of short-term particle pollution; nearly 2.6 million people live in counties with unhealthful levels of year-round particle pollution. Research indicates that because diabetics are already at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, they may face increased risk due to the impact of particle pollution on their cardiovascular systems. What needs to be done Many major challenges require the Obama Administration and Congress to take steps to protect the health of the public. Here are a few key steps that the American Lung Association also calls for to improve the air we all breathe.
  
  
• Clean up dirty power plants. Coal-fired power plants are among the largest contributors to particulate pollution, ozone, mercury, and global warming. The EPA should immediately take action to reduce emissions and expand clean-up requirements for power plants nationwide. The American Lung Association has taken legal action repeatedly to fight to require power plants to clean up.
  
  
• Clean up the existing fleet of dirty diesel. Rules the EPA put in effect over the past several years mean that new diesel vehicles and equipment must be much cleaner. Still, the vast majority of diesel trucks, buses and heavy equipment (such as tractors and bulldozers) will likely be in use for thousands more miles, spewing dangerous diesel exhaust into communities and neighborhoods. The good news is that affordable technology exists to virtually eliminate this problem and the economic recovery legislation is investing $300 million at the EPA for the voluntary diesel retrofit program.
  
  
• Clean up ocean-going vessels. Ocean-going vessels, like cruise ships, container ships and tankers deliver staggering amounts of smog-forming oxides of nitrogen, particle pollution, sulfur dioxide and heat-trapping carbon dioxide. By 2030 these vessels will produce approximately 45 percent of the national inventory of mobile source particle pollution emissions, harming health, worsening global warming and creating acid rain. New evidence shows that pollution from these vessels reaches parts of the country far inland from the 40 port cities that have recognized air pollution problems. The International Maritime Organization must grant the EPA the right to maximize the clean air protections under international agreements, carrying out faster and deeper cuts in particulate-and smog-forming pollutants.
  
  
• Strengthen the 2008 ozone standards. The EPA issued new national air quality standards for ozone in March 2008, after legal action by the American Lung Association forced them to complete a formal review. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration chose to disregard the unanimous recommendations of the EPA’s official science advisors and adopted standards that fail to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act. These standards are still in the early stage of implementation and have been challenged in court by the American Lung Association, states, public health and environmental groups. The EPA should voluntarily remand its March rule and issue a new rule that meets the recommendations of the expert panel and the nation’s leading public health organizations. A voluntary remand can be designed to maintain clean air progress while transitioning to more protective standards.
  
  
• Strengthen the national standard for particle pollution. In 2006, the EPA failed to strengthen the annual standard for fine particles, despite the near unanimous recommendation by the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. the EPA can save thousands of lives each year by dramatically lowering the annual average standard. The Lung Association challenged this decision in court and, on February 25, 2009, won the case as the U.S. Court of Appeals told the EPA to review the science again. Proposed revisions to the PM standards are due in late 2010.
  
  
• Require all appropriate counties to clean up particle pollution. In December 2008, the EPA failed to take any action to designate counties that had violated the annual standard for fine particulates, a pollutant found to increase the risk of premature death. The EPA’s most egregious omission was Houston, where the EPA’s own calculations show that the year-round level of particle pollution are growing and clearly violate the standard, but the EPA also failed to recognize at least four other cities with the same problem. This omission means that Houston and the other cities will not have to reduce their pollution to restore healthy air. The EPA should revise the final rule to include plans to address the annual standard and designate all appropriate counties for the 24-hour standard.
  

What you can do
Individual citizens can do a great deal to help reduce air pollution outdoors as well. Simple but effective ways include:

• Drive less. Combine trips, walk, bike, carpool or vanpool, and use buses, subways or other alternatives to driving. Vehicle emissions are a major source of air pollution. Support community plans that provide ways to get around that don’t require a car, such as more sidewalks, bike trails and transit systems.
  
  
• Don’t burn wood or trash. Burning firewood and trash are among the largest sources of particles in many parts of the country. If you must use a fireplace or stove for heat, convert your woodstoves to natural gas, which has far fewer polluting emissions. Compost and recycle as much as possible and dispose of other waste properly; don’t burn it. Support efforts in your community to ban outdoor burning of construction and yard wastes. Avoid the use of outdoor hydronic heaters, also called outdoor wood boilers, which are often much more polluting than woodstoves.
  
  
• Make sure your local school system requires clean school buses, which includes replacing or retrofitting old school buses with filters and other equipment to reduce emissions. Make sure your local schools don’t idle their buses, a step that can immediately reduce the emissions.
  
  
• Get involved. Participate in your community’s review of its air pollution plans and support state and local efforts to clean up air pollution.
  
  
• Use less electricity. Turn out the lights and use energy-efficient appliances. Generating electricity is one of the biggest sources of pollution, particularly in the eastern United States.
  
  
• Send a message to decision makers. Send an email or fax to urge Congress to oppose measures that weaken the Clean Air Act.
  

Log on at www.LungUSA.org to see how easy that can be.