Los Angeles has been making decades of progress in reducing air pollution, but Los Angeles remains the country’s most smog and most smog city, according to a report released Wednesday by U.S. Lynx Assun.
The association’s annual report noted that LA has won its 25th infamous title despite nearly 40% reduction in unhealthy ozone days since 2000. Particle contamination metrics spoke similarly.
California has the most smog locations in five smogs defined by levels of ozone pollution, according to the report. LA, Visalia, Bakersfield, Fresno and San Diego were one of the lists of the cities most polluted by ozone. Bakersfield, Visalia, Fresno, LA and Sacramento were in the top 10 due to the worst particle contamination.
The report comes about a month after the Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to loosen or eliminate a wide range of environmental regulations that could negatively affect temperament and reverse California’s decades of progress.
“No one wants to go back to the kind of sky that caused our clean air laws,” Mary D. Nichols, a UCLA law professor and former chairman of the California Air Resources Committee, said at a press conference Tuesday.
Under the EPA, the Trump administration “will roll back existing rules that are effective in protecting public health,” she says, calling for the removal of staff status and removal of science and research capabilities.
If the EPA is dismantled, “We have more sick children. More people will go to hospital after being attacked asthma,” Nichols said. “We will see people who die faster than they should because of the poison in the air.”
The status of the air report tracks two major air pollution: ozone pollution driven primarily by drought and wildfires, primarily tailpipe emissions and heat factors, and particulate pollution. The report found that over 34.3 million Californians live in communities where at least one air quality grade is broken, and 22.9 million people live in communities where at least one air quality grade is broken, according to the report.
Southern California has been choking since the mass adoption of cars. Millions of cars and trucks in the area release vast amounts of vehicle exhaust that form smog when cooked in a perennial sunny climate. Mountain ranges limit airflow and prevent pollution from being dispersed.
State and local regulators have adopted many adoptions that enact strict greenhouse gas emissions restrictions and systems to reduce emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities, including Senate Bill 32 of 2014 and Congressional Bill 398 of 2017.
However, transportation remains the largest source of supply in major California cities. Heavy-duty trucks, freighters and trains are some of the biggest contributors to local pollution.
Despite the inactive outcomes, dozens of California cities, including Los Angeles, have posted the best ever reports of either ozone or particulate contamination, said Mariella Ruacho, senior clean air advocacy manager at Asun, the U.S. Lung.
Fresno has been improved completely, registering the lowest particle levels for ozone days and particle days and particle days since the tracking began in 2000.
Meanwhile, Bakersfield has won the title of American City for its healthy air. The town of San Joaquin Valley was ranked as the country’s most particle-contaminated city, both at short-term and annual levels, according to the report.
“Incentives for off-road agricultural equipment to maintain the state’s investment in gradual gradual agricultural combustion, tractor cleaning, and off-road agricultural equipment are essential for continuous local advancement,” said the US Lung Assn. I wrote in a news release.
While California’s air quality has improved significantly since its 1st Aviation Report in 2000, concerns about climate change and new laws exist. The SB 712 will be completely exempt from collector vehicles for models at least 35 years old and over from smog check requirements, and “sets progress decades ago,” Ruacho said.
“Unhealthy atmosphere is unfair and uncontrollable,” Lucho said. “To protect against these costly health emergencies, California needs to reduce the risk of wildfires, promote zero-emission transport and energy sources, and double its investments to meet its pollution reduction needs.”
Times staff writer Tony Briscoe contributed to this report.
