Posted on 04/18/2018 11:09:38 AM PDT by gubamyster
California is known for many things and sadly, air pollution is one of them. According to the American Lung Association's annual list of smoggiest cities in the U.S., eight of the top ten are in California. Phoenix and New York City round out the top ten.
The Los Angeles-Long Beach area takes the top spot for worst air pollution, as it has for the nearly 19 years the report has been issued. Bakersfield is a close second, while Visalia, Fresno, Sacramento, San Diego and Modesto are also on the list. Los Angeles ranked #1 for high ozone days out of 227 metropolitan areas according to the report.
Pheonix comes in at number eight, just ahead of Redding, California and New York City.
Of course, if you're looking for a cleaner way of living, you may want to check out Anchorage, Alaska. They tied for 1st on cleanest metropolitan areas in the country for Ozone with Bangor, ME. Although, Bangor seems to be the better choice overall - it was also tied for 1st for cleanest metropolitan areas in the country for 24-hour particle pollution.
Researchers determined their results based on data available from official monitoring sites that measure particle pollution across the United States. Ozone-pollution spiked dramatically over the years, which experts say pose a number of health risks.
The American Lung Association says up to 133-million Americans (more than 40 percent of the nation's population) live in areas where pollution puts them at a risk for premature death and serious health risks.
An Honorable Mention must go to San Francisco for the Fecal Pollution they have on the streets.
Visit Denpasar in Bali or large portions of China.
CA has no idea what air pollution really is.
How could this be? They are so environmentally conscious - and they’re not at all shy about lecturing the rest of us on the subject...
Okay, but Denpasar in Bali and large portions of China are not in the United States. The story is about cities in the United States.
I read a few years back that 25% of the particulate matter in the air of the LA basin was from China. When I visit my son there, everything I touch has a layer of grit on it.
And the rest of us live in areas where pork-rinds and Mountain Dew put us at risk for premature death and serious health risks...
;-)
“Bakersfield is a close second, while Visalia, Fresno, Sacramento, and Modesto are also on the list.”
I’m thinking cattle farts! Just drive down I5 in the Central Valley and you have to roll up your windows when you pass by a feed lot.
Phoenix’s big problem is that it’s a desert. A lot of their air quality issue is sand particles in the air. There’s nothing Phoenix can do about that.
The same would be true in the Central Valley (Bakersfield, Fresno, Visalia, Modesto, Sacramento), where typical high pressure systems trap the heat that stagnates the air.
You don't see San Francisco and Oakland on the list, because these same inversion cycles create afternoon winds from the coast to the valley that constantly blow the bad air away. The westerly winds begin at around 3:00PM and consistently ends at sundown.
-PJ
Maybe they should mandate electric cars......
Pretty sure that New Jersey will take that as a challenge.
Weird... I live in Houston and we are told we have the most pollution due to oil, gas, petrochemical and plastics plants.
Glad to see we aren’t top 10 on this list!
Probably need to go on a "Road Diet". Speaking of that, I heard on the radio this morning that Garcetti's Project Zero - to end pedestrian deaths - has resulted in an 80% increase.
If those people in Iowa had any clue of what a loser Garcetti is, nobody would have showed up to his Presidential kickoff last week. Garcetti is such a douchebag.
Phoenix has a chronic problem with the winds picking up desert sands and other particulates. Almost impossible to control unless one paves the desert. CA doesn’t have that excuse, they are just dirty and suck!
Gotta love the irony.
Bakersfield is understandable with the Harris Ranch and more than 50 other slaughter houses there.
But, Hell’uve a steak if you want one...
Let’s talk about the trillions of dollars, inconveniences, insanity over the environment the liberals/Democrats have promoted since the 1960’s.
Where’d all the money go? Why don’t we have clean air because of all the money, and all the restrictive/costly fuel regulations, etc., or is this a “just think of what it would be like if we hadn’t addressed the pollution concerns when we did?”
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