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Report Names America's Sootiest City

By NOAKI SCHWARTZ,
AP
Posted: 2008-05-01 07:57:02
Filed Under: Nation News
LOS ANGELES (May 1) - A city outside California has for the first time been named the sootiest in the nation, one of the categories the American Lung Association uses to determine the most polluted cities in the country.

Los Angeles still took the all-around pollution title, though.

Pittsburgh overtook Los Angeles in the category that measures short-term particle pollution or soot. Los Angeles, the country's longtime soot and smog leader, has enacted aggressive measures to tackle sources of pollution, resulting in a substantial drop in particle pollution levels, said Janice Nolen, the association's assistant vice president of national policy and advocacy.

"It's not that Pittsburgh has gotten worse; it's that Los Angeles has gotten better," Nolen said. "If the trend continues, Pittsburgh will top two lists, and LA will only be leading the nation in ozone."

Still, Los Angeles held its own in two other categories measuring year-round soot levels and smog. And statewide, 26 of California's 52 counties with air quality monitoring stations got failing grades for having either high ozone days or particle pollution days.

The association's "State of the Air: 2008" report, being released Thursday, was based on air quality measurements reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by state and local agencies between 2004 and 2006. The study looks at three key pollution measures.

The eight metropolitan areas considered to be the nation's most polluted by every measure were Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Visalia-Porterfield and Hanford-Corcoran, all in California; Washington-Baltimore; St. Louis; and Birmingham, Ala.

The cleanest cities were Fargo, N.D., and Salinas, Calif.

The rankings were based on ozone pollution levels produced when heat and sunlight come into contact with pollutants from power plants, cars, refineries and other sources. The lung association also studied particle pollution levels emitted from these sources, which are made up of a mix of tiny solid and liquid particles in the air.

The study found that about 42 percent of residents nationwide live in counties with high levels of particle or ozone pollution.

"When you think of the impact of ozone on our respiratory tracts, imagine putting acid right in your eye. It's that corrosive," said Tony Gerber, a pulmonary specialist and assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco. "This corrosiveness causes severe irritation and leads to problems like asthma attacks, coughing, wheezing, chest pain and even death."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2008-04-29 16:25:43
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csmagal 11:21:35 AM May 02 2008

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It's called greed, the factories and companies polluted the air and the water for years and no one cared as long as they made some money, at what expense. Blame Bush for his alliance to Saudia's.

catfishandray 04:22:41 AM May 02 2008

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Bull-crap! The American Lung Association is wrong. The Federal EPA already said that cities like Pittsburgh, PA got a bad rap. The Feds already checked Pittsburgh, PA and said their air is great.

titus71489 12:08:36 AM May 02 2008

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hey, why hasnt anyone realized that this is the fault of illegals?

eagleiam45 10:43:18 PM May 01 2008

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Yippieeeeeeeeeeee I live in Bakersfield calif cough cough

infernox90 10:14:24 PM May 01 2008

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gang related

infernox90 10:13:39 PM May 01 2008

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lol i live in Salinas CA so its preety suprsing when i heard about it on the news lol. Well does not stop all the murders here most in monterey county

jesselawnmowing 09:47:44 PM May 01 2008

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asheville nc is becoming one too. all the truck traffic on I-40 is smogging our city. it used to be great smokie mountains. now it really is. i live in the country and i smell city smells everyday.

koos458 07:48:55 PM May 01 2008

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Darn, at one time or another, I lived in almost all these places, including being born in LA. A wonder I can still breathe

wend520 06:53:47 PM May 01 2008

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Air moves and China's crap is heading this way to gag us. Pittsburgh is in Penn. Coal country and the largest rate of lung disorders. More asthma, lung cancer.
black lung.
It's all the suv's collectively. Consume more fuel than cars.

tarintay 05:27:00 PM May 01 2008

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am 56 years old and live in Pittsburgh. My grandmother had 13 brothers and sisters that lived,worked and died between the ages of 98 and 104 in the smoky city. Thank Hillary and Bill for moving the manufacturing jobs out of the USA and giving us clean air.
_________________
Now why do you want to blame Bill and Hillary for shipping jobs overseas? Wouldn't the blame be better put on the BIG companies? For wanting to get big labor for no $$?

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