San Diego County climbs to 5th worst for year-round particle pollution: Lung Association report

The San Diego County region is the seventh-smoggiest area in the nation, with ozone pollution generally worsening in many U.S. areas, according to an annual report by the American Lung Association.

The region actually moved up one spot on the list from last year, when San Diego County placed eighth-worst in terms of ozone pollution, according to the “State of the Air” report released Tuesday.

Overall, the report found that poor air quality plagues much of the country, with nearly half of all American children living in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution.

“Clean air is not something we can take for granted. It takes work,” Harold Wimmer, president/CEO of the American Lung Association, said in a statement. “For decades, people in the U.S. have breathed cleaner air thanks to the Clean Air Act. Unfortunately, that progress is now at risk due to extreme heat and wildfires, fueled by climate change, and policy changes that are making the problem worse.

“Now is the time to strengthen air pollution standards, but EPA is doing the opposite. In the last year, EPA has weakened enforcement and rolled back rules that would have protected kids from power plant and vehicle pollution. Children need clean air to grow and play, and communities need clean air to thrive. Leaders at every level must act to improve and protect America’s air quality.”

The report found that 44% of people in the United States live in a county that received a failing grade in at least one of the study’s three measures of air pollution, with 32.9 million people living in counties that earned poor grades in all three categories.

People of color are more than twice as likely as white people to live in areas that failed in all three categories. Hispanic people are more than three times as likely as white people to live in such areas.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach area retained its dubious distinction as the nation’s smoggiest region. That area has been ranked the worst for ozone pollution in 26 of the past 27 years.

Three other California communities placed in the top five in terms of smog, with Visalia placing second behind L.A./Long Beach, followed by Bakersfield-Delano; Phoenix/Mesa, Arizona; and Fresno-Hanford-Corcoran placing fifth.

“Ground-level ozone pollution, also known as smog, is a powerful respiratory irritant whose effects have been likened to a sunburn of the lungs,” according to the Lung Association. “Inhaling ozone can cause shortness of breath, trigger coughing and asthma attacks, and can cause premature death. Though progress has been made over the years to clean up ozone, that progress is fragile, and more communities are seeing their worst ozone levels in years.”

San Diego County was the fifth-most polluted region in the country for year-round particle pollution, jumping “from 59th worst in last year’s report to 5th worst,” according to the report.

However San Diego was not among the top 25 most-polluted regions for short-term particle pollution, according to the report. The short-term figure represents daily spikes in particle pollution, or soot, while the year-round figure is an annual average.

On a countywide level, San Bernardino County was ranked as the nation’s most ozone-polluted place to live, followed by Riverside, Los Angeles, Tulare and Kern counties. Kern County also topped the list as the most polluted county for year-round particle pollution.

Los Angeles and Riverside counties all earned failing grades in the report for all three pollution categories, as did Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Merced, San Bernardino, Stanislaus and Tulare counties.