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Regional Analyses: Region 7 & 8
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Region 7
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska
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Region 8
Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming | |
Region 7. The most serious air pollution problem in Region 4 is with yearround particle pollution in the metropolitan area of St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL, which ranked as the 20th worst city for that in the nation. In Region 7, only Missouri shows ozone levels that are of major concern. With scores similar to the previous year, eight out of 11 Missouri counties were graded F, representing 86% of the population of those counties. St. Charles County remained the worst in the state and actually did worse than it did in 2002. Two counties improved while one other (in addition to St. Charles) worsened.
Elsewhere in Region 7, things have not changed much. In Iowa, Scott remains the worst ozone-polluted county. Three counties in Iowa improved their grades; one dropped a grade. In Kansas, two counties ? Sedgwick and Wyandotte ? tied for the worst ozone pollution. Trego County, KS, got its first grade: a B. One county in Nebraska, Douglas, improved from a B to an A. All four states in Region 7 scored well for particle pollution. The only area failing both tests for particles was St. Louis City, MO. No other county, in all four states, earned a failing grade for particle pollution.
Region 8. Ozone is not much of a problem in Region 8, with the exception of Jefferson County, CO, and Salt Lake County, UT, both of which got an F. Jefferson County, in the Denver metropolitan area, dropped from a C in last year's report to an F. Four Region 8 states ? Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming ? had no ozone problems during this period.
Particle pollution, however, is another matter. Two Utah cities ranked among the 25 most polluted by short-term particles: Salt Lake City-Ogden-Clearfield, UT, stands at 6th worst, while Provo-Orem, UT, ties for 18th place. Two counties ranked on the list of worst counties for short-term particle pollution: Salt Lake County at number 9 and Utah County at number 23.
Five of Utah's seven reporting counties scored F for short-term measurements of particles. No counties in Utah failed the year-round-level tests. In Montana, three counties were graded F for the short-term measurements. One of those counties, Lincoln, also failed the year-round-level test for particle pollution.
North Dakota and South Dakota had no evidence of problems with particle pollution. Colorado and Wyoming had a few days in unhealthy ranges, but no consistent problems.
Regional Analyses continued... |
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