Top Five U.S. cities with worst annual air pollution
Devastated by out-of-control, nearby wildfires in recent years, four California cities ranked among the top five cities in the U.S. with the dirtiest year-around air, according to a new study from the American Lung Assocation.
Bakersfield, Visalia, the greater Fresno area, and the Bay Area of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose were among the top five cities with the greatest year-round particle pollution, with the Eugene-Springfield, Oregon rounding out the top five, according the ALA’s State of the Air Report (State of the Air | American Lung Association), released last week.
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The report said more than 131 million Americans live in areas with unhealthy air pollution, caused by high-particle pollution (soot) and ground-level ozone air pollution (smog) and that because of the recent surge in wildfires in the West, levels are reaching their unhealthiest in 25 years.
New Yorkers got a taste of the high-level particle pollution last summer when smoke from wildfires in Canada covered the city, producing unhealthy air to breath and orange skies for several days. California areas, particularly near Los Angeles and San Francisco, have suffered from massive wildfires in recent years, causing pollution levels to rise and insurance companies to stop selling home-owner policies in parts of the state.
The five cleanest cities, according to the report, were Bangor, Maine, Johnson City-Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA, Lincoln-Beatrice, NE, Urban Honolulu, and Wilmington, NC.
