Despite decades of progress in reducing air pollution, Los Angeles is still the country’s most smogggy city, according to a report published Wednesday by American Lung Assn.
The association’s “State of the Air” annual report noted that Los Angeles has kept the infamous title for the 25th time, even if the number of unhealthy ozone days has dropped by almost 40% since 2000.
California is home to five of the country’s most smogggy places, as defined by ozone pollution levels, as well as out of five of the 10 worst cities by particle pollution, depending on the report. Los Angeles, Visalia, Bakersfield, Fresno and San Diego were among the list of cities most polluted by Ozone. Bakersfield, Visalia, Fresno, Los Angeles and Sacramento were in the top 10 for the worst particle pollution.
The report occurs about a month after the Environmental Protection Agency, under the Trump administration, announced that its plan to loosen or eliminate a wide strip of environmental regulations which, according to many experts, could negatively affect air quality, reversing decades of progress in California.
“No one wants to return to the type of sky that sparked our own air laws in the first place,” Mary D. Nichols, UCLA law professor and former president of California Air Resources Board said on Tuesday at a press conference on Tuesday.
At the EPA, the Trump administration seeks to “back down the existing rules that have been effective in protecting public health,” she said, as well as to eliminate personnel positions and remove scientific and research functions.
If EPA is dismantled, “we will have more sick children. We will have more people in the hospital with asthma attacks,” said Nichols. “We will see people die earlier than they should have just because of the poison in the air.”
The “air condition” ratio follows two main types of air pollution: ozone pollution, largely a factor in emission and heat of exhaust pipes, and particle pollution, mainly driven by drought and forest fires. The report has revealed that more than 34.3 million Californians live in a community with at least one rank of defaulting air quality and 22.9 million live in a community with three failing air quality notes.
South of California has been suffocated by SMOG since the mass adoption of the automobile. Millions of cars and trucks from the region release a large amount of exhaust of vehicles, which forms SMOG when cooked in the sunny sustainable climate. Mountain chains restrict the air flow and prevent pollution from dispersing.
States and premises regulators have adopted a certain number of national renown rules to reduce the emissions of vehicles and industrial facilities, in particular the Senate bill 32 in 2014 and Bill 398 of the Assembly in 2017, which promulgated strict greenhouse gas emissions and a ceiling system.
While electric vehicles and cleaner car engines have considerably reduced pollution, transport remains the largest source in large cities in California. Heavy trucks, cargo cargo and trains are among the largest contributors to regional pollution.
Despite the dull results, a dozen cities in California, including Los Angeles, have displayed their best reports on pollution of ozone or particles, said Mariela Ruacho, an official of air advocacy specific to the American Lung Assn.
Fresno has improved at all levels, recording its lowest number of ozone days and particle days and its lowest annual particle levels since the start of follow -up in 2000.
Meanwhile, Bakersfield won the city’s title in America with the least healthy air. According to the report, the city of the San Joaquin valley has classified itself as the city most polluted by the country’s particles, in the short term and annual, according to the report.
“The abolition of agricultural burns, the maintenance of state investments in cleaning heavy trucks and incentives for off -road agricultural equipment are essential to local progress in progress”, the American Lung Assn. written in a press release.
Although California’s air quality has improved considerably since the first “air condition” report in 2000, concerns about climate change and new legislation abound. Bill 712 of the California Senate, which would completely exempt collecting cars at least 35 years old, from SMOG verification requirements, “would reduce our progress,” said Ruacho.
“The unhealthy air is inequitable and unaffordable,” said Ruacho. “To protect itself against these expensive health emergencies, California must double on investments to reduce the risk of forest, stimulate zero -emission and energy -free energy sources and align transportation of transport with pollution reduction needs.”
Staff editor Tony Briscoe has contributed to this report.
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