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The State of the Air: 2001
National and Regional Trends
Most areas that were found to be the most ozone-polluted in State of the Air 2000 didn’t fare any better in State of the Air 2001. Only three cities from last year’s report dropped off the list of America’s 25 most ozone-polluted cities: Modesto, California; Birmingham, Alabama; and St. Louis, Missouri (However, the air quality in these cities continue to receive a failing grade). Five new cities appear this year: Richmond-Petersburg, Virginia; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Louisville, Kentucky; Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, North Carolina; and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The similar findings in the 2000 and 2001 reports indicate that the high levels of ozone around the country found in State of the Air 2000 were not an anomaly. The two reports taken together show that high ozone levels are an ongoing, widespread national problem that affects a significant portion of the U.S. population.
Nationwide Danger. As with last year’s report, State of the Air 2001 finds that ozone levels violate the health-based standards of the Clean Air Act in major cities and counties throughout the United States. From San Diego to Houston to Atlanta to Philadelphia, ozone-filled air threatens the ability of people with asthma, chronic bronchitis and emphysema to breathe easily. Big cities such as New York and Los Angeles, smaller cities like Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Redding, California, and medium-sized cities, such as Memphis and Charlotte, all carry the burden of smog-filled air. Some cities suffer from high levels of ozone air pollution because of local traffic and industry, while other areas without major industry or large populations must breathe in pollution blown in from other communities.
This report demonstrates that ozone air pollution isn’t just a problem in isolated areas of the country. Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic cities are on the list of the highest-ozone cities, along with the better-known pollution centers such as Los Angeles and Houston. Atlanta jumped from the 9 th to the 6 th worst polluted city, Knoxville, Tennessee jumped to the 9 th worst city from 12 th , while the Philadelphia and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina areas tied for 10 th place, a jump from 13 th and 17 th place, respectively.
Slightly Better News in California. In general, the news was better this year, but only relatively, for California, which has the dubious distinction of having the most counties (11) on the most-polluted counties list -- down from 14 last year. But even with fewer counties on the list, the top five -- San Bernadino, Riverside, Kern, Fresno and Tulare -- are all in California. San Diego, Sacramento and Shasta Counties dropped off the list of the 25 most ozone-polluted. Los Angeles County, number 5 last year on the list of America’s 25 most ozone-polluted counties, moved down to number 8 in the new report. Also encouraging for the state: San Diego dropped from number 6 down to 17 on the list of America’s 25 most ozone-polluted cities. The improvement in California’s area air quality is likely due to both reduced ozone precursor emissions from pollution controls and weather conditions less favorable to ozone formation in 1999.
Spreading Problem in Some States. State of the Air 2001 found that three states -- North Carolina , Georgia and Maryland -- have more counties on this year’s list of America’s 25 most ozone-polluted counties compared with last year. In North Carolina, Rowan County joined Mecklenburg and Wake Counties; in Maryland, Charles County joined Anne Arundel and Prince George’s; and in Georgia, Douglas County joined Fulton and Rockdale.
The Cleanest Air. Most of the areas that were rated as having the best record on ozone air pollution, reporting no days in the unhealthy ranges, in last year’s report again rated highly this year. Bellingham, Washington ; Colorado Springs, Colorado ; Des Moines, Iowa ; and Duluth, Minnesota, all made the list of clean cities for both the 2000 and 2001 reports. |
