The American Lung Association’s national “State of the Air 2012” report released this week reviewed data for hundreds of counties for 2008, 2009 and 2010 focusing on days with high ozone, known as smog, and particle pollution generated by coal-fired power plants, diesel fuel and wood-burning.
Santa Cruz County did not have any high ozone days, scoring an A, and zero days with high levels of particle pollution, scoring another A.
San Luis Obispo and Ventura are among the top 25 smog-polluted counties in the nation. They scored F on that measure, as did Santa Barbara and San Benito; Monterey rated a B.
Monterey and San Benito rated A in particle pollution, and San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura scored a B.
All the Central Coast counties scored passing grades for year-round particle pollution.
Bonnie Holmes-Gen of the American Lung Association in California pointed out Los Angeles had 189 bad air days in 2000 and is down to 127 bad-air days.
Dr. Kari Nadeau, a researcher at Stanford University and a member of the American Lung Association board, cited her findings that pollutants in Fresno are affecting the immune systems of children.
For some, it is a matter of life and death.
Ventura County resident Lydia Rojas, mother of three children with asthma, said her 15-year-old daughter died after an asthma attack at school.
“Without clean air, you can’t breathe,” Rojas said. “If you can’t breathe, you die.”
“We’ve made good efforts to reduce pollution from refineries, power plants and gas stations,” said Lisa Fasano of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, urging a reduction in gasoline-fueled vehicles and winter wood-burning to improve air quality.
Lung Association officials called on Congress to protect the Clean Air Act, criticizing efforts to weaken regulations.
Responding to criticism that too many counties get F grades, Janice Nolan of the American Lung Association said, “We give F’s if you have too much air pollution and you have too much ozone.”
Holmes-Gen insisted improving air quality is doable.
“We’re in the middle of a marathon,” she said, advocating building communities around transit and “ratcheting down” trucks with “dirty” diesel engines in California’s ag industry.
Santa Fe, N.M., emerged as the cleanest city in all three categories, according to the 2012 report.
