The American Lung Association's 2024 "State of the Air" report shows pollution getting worse in Minnesota over the last three years.
Spokesman Jon Hunter says it involves fine particulate matter.
"People might picture kind of old sooty smokestacks or, you know, tailpipes, things like that," explains Hunter. "That's kind of a bigger form of particle pollution and the fine particulate pollution is a little harder to see. But it can really travel kind of deep down in the lungs and cause a lot of health problems."
Hunter says many areas of the state were given a failing grade on the report, largely due to pollution from wildfire smoke drifting into the state.
"One of the main causes for that in Minnesota, where we traditionally had pretty decent air quality overall, but lately, we've had issues with wildfire smoke coming in from other places around the country."
Hunter says that smoke carries fine particulate matter that can get lodged in the body and cause serious health problems. It isn't a metro area issue either. Hunter says several areas of Minnesota received a failing grade in that category.
The “State of the Air” 2024 report finds that despite decades of progress cleaning up air pollution, 39% of people living in America—131.2 million people—still live in places with failing grades for unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution. This is 11.7 million more people breathing unhealthy air compared to last year’s report.
Nearly 4 in 10 people in America live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution now. The significant rise in the number of individuals whose health is at risk is the result of a combination of factors. Extreme heat, drought and wildfires are contributing to a steady increase in deadly particle pollution, especially in the western U.S.