PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — While there’s been some improvement in air pollution across the Philadelphia region, there is still a ways to go, according to the American Lung Association’s latest State of the Air report.
The annual report, released on Thursday, analyzes air pollution and how it affects communities around the country. This year, there are mixed results for the Philadelphia metro area.
For the study’s purposes, the organization groups the Philadelphia, Reading and Camden areas together. According to the report, that region is now 29th in the country for ozone pollution, or smog, which is an improvement from 21st last year. However, the region remained in the top 25 when it came to particle pollution, or soot, falling from 17th to 18th.
Delaware County was the most polluted county in the metro area.
Overall, the report showed that 40% of Americans — 137 million people — live in places that were given failing grades for unhealthy levels of smog and particle pollution. That is an increase of more than 2 million people compared to last year’s report.
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Bakersfield, California was at the top of the list for highest particle pollution, while Los Angeles was No. 1 for smog.
The American Lung Association produces the rankings based on an analysis of data compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over a three-year period (2018-2020). Notably, the shutdowns in the first year of the pandemic did not make much of a difference when it came to pollution, the study found.
“There are many factors that affect air quality, and we did not see any systematic change in air quality across the country [during shutdowns],” explained Kevin Stewart, American Lung Association director of environmental health.
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“Air pollution comes from all sorts of different sources. Certainly, there’s industry. There’s electric power generation from fossil fuels. Lots of people are driving vehicles. These days, of course, there are a lot of vehicles that are delivering our packages because we’re doing more online ordering.”
With pollution comes health concerns for communities here and all over the country.
“Particularly at risk are children, older adults, pregnant people, those living with chronic lung disease, chronic heart disease,” Stewart said. “Ozone and particle pollution can even lead to premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks, and even developmental and reproductive harm.”
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There were more “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” air quality days, as the report called them, during the period of time covered this year compared to any other period since the American Lung Association started keeping track.
The study also showed that people of color were 61% more likely to live in a county that had a failing grade for at least one pollutant, and nearly four times as likely to live in a place that had a failing grade for three pollutants.
“There’s a history of redlining and discrimination in our country that we know has had these kinds of effects,” Stewart added. “More attention [needs to be] paid to the idea of when mitigation happens, it needs to really focus on areas that have historically been discriminated against.”
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The organization is calling on collective action to improve air quality. On an individual level, the report said people should consider driving less and taking public transportation, or walking and biking when possible, as well as try not to overheat or over-cool their homes throughout the year.
There is also a call for local, state and federal governments to establish stronger standards for pollution, move away from fossil fuels and invest in zero-emission technology.