Smog levels in the United States are lower than they used to be but the eastern half is witnessing a rise in the soot levels, reported the American Lung Association in its annual “State of the Air” report.
Get original file (5KB) [1]
Smog levels have dropped after reaching their peak in 2002 but the coal-fired power plants in the East are leading to the intensifying particle pollution. Emissions from diesel vehicles and construction equipment are also adding soot.
"The increased particle pollution in the East is a particularly troubling trend, because exposure to particle pollution can not only take years off your life, it can threaten your life immediately," said Terri E. Weaver, the American Lung Association Chair, in a press release.
Los-Angeles takes the top rank in the list of most particle-polluted cities while Pittsburgh and Bakersfield are ranked second and third respectively. The fear of asthma does not seem to be discouraging the masses.
Besides the two kinds of soot -- short-term and year-round exposure, the lung association checked for another kind of pollution – Ozone. It was found that 136 million people lived in U.S. countries with detrimental levels of at least one of the three.
According to the report, Ozone levels have dropped nationwide, owing to the successful reduction in auto and truck emissions but it is still not less enough. Here too, Los Angeles was ranked as the most polluted; besides which, a collection of cities in California's Central Valley and other Sun Belt locales had the worst ozone levels. Lowest Ozone levels were found in Ames, Iowa with Bellingham and Washington.
Smaller metropolises located in wide-open spaces were among the cleanest.
"We're calling on EPA (Environmental Protection Administration) to set new standards for ozone at levels that would protect public health as the Clean Air Act requires," said Weaver.
The U.S. Supreme Court turned down the plea from the Bush administration and industry to hear arguments in order to change part of the Clean Air Act that calls for coal-fired power plants to put in modern pollution safeguards when updating the rest of their facilities.