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National and Regional Analyses cont'd
Regional Analyses
Region 3: Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
The Mid-Atlantic region continues to carry the highest air pollution burden in the nation. Historic problems with air pollutants blown in from outside the region add to locally developed pollution, creating a complex clean up problem. Nine major Mid-Atlantic cities or parts of cities ranked among the 25 most polluted by particles year-round. Six cities or parts of cities are on the list of 25 cities most polluted by ozone and five are on the most-polluted list for short-term particles. The most burdened major cities include: Pittsburgh-New Castle, PA (ranked 3rd for yearround exposure and 4th for short-term exposure to particles and 17th for ozone levels); Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV (ranked 12th worst for both ozone and short-term particle exposure, and 21st for year-round exposure to particles); Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD (which remained ranked as the 10th most ozone-polluted city); and the Pennsylvania suburbs of the New York-Newark-Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA metro area (ranked 9th worst for ozone, 15th for short-term particle exposure and 16th for year-round particles).
Nine smaller cities also ranked among the most polluted, especially in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Counties in those states also ranked among the most polluted, along with several counties in Maryland.
This region had more cities ranked among the most polluted by year-round levels of particle pollution than any other region. The Mid-Atlantic was second only to the California-dominated Region 9 in the number of metropolitan areas ranked as among the most polluted by short-term particle pollution and tied for second with the upper Midwest (Region 5) for ozone.
Delaware
While most counties had fewer days of unhealthy air pollution, two counties in Delaware improved enough to raise their grades for short-term particle pollution. However, the parts of Delaware that are in the Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area remain ranked as 10th most ozone-polluted city in the nation.
District of Columbia
As part of the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia metropolitan area, the District continues to have serious air pollution problems. However, the number of days with high levels of pollution dropped compared to the 2005 report.
Maryland
In addition to the ranked Washington-Baltimore metro area, Maryland includes arts of two other of the nation’s most polluted metropolitan areas. Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV, tied for 22nd most polluted by year-round levels of particles and Maryland’s suburban counties are included in the Philadelphia metro area, which ranked as the 10th most polluted by ozone. In addition, Maryland has counties that ranked among the most polluted in the nation. Anne Arundel and Harford counties ranked 20th and 21st most ozone-polluted counties in the nation, while Baltimore City ranked 16th most polluted by short-term levels of particle pollution. Good news: Baltimore County improved its year-round grade for particle pollution to passing.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania landed all or parts of eight metropolitan areas on the lists of the most polluted cities in the nation. In addition to the rankings for Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs of the New York City metropolitan area, three smaller cities remained on the list of most polluted by year-round levels of particle pollution: York-Hanover-Gettysburg tied for 13th; Lancaster tied for 16th; and, newcomer to the worst list, Reading tied at 22nd. Along with the three major metropolitan areas, Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon also ranked on the list of cities most polluted by short-term particle levels, at 24th, and Youngstown-Warren-East Liverpool, OH-PA metropolitan area tied for 20th most ozone-polluted city.
Pittsburgh’s ranking on the list of most polluted by year-round particle levels has gotten worse, despite lower particle levels, because of greater clean up in other cities. Both Philadelphia-Camden-Vineland, PA-NJ-DE-MD, and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ, improved their rankings slightly on the short-term list, dropping to a tie for 27th place from 20th and 22nd place, respectively. Allegheny County moved up to 5th most polluted county on the short-term particle list, while Philadelphia County improved enough to drop from that list moving to 34th from last report’s 25th place. Allegheny County moved up slightly to the 5th most polluted by year-round levels of particles, followed by York at 16th and Lancaster at 20th. Both of the latter counties are in a worse position based on 2002-2004 data than in last year’s rankings.
Good news: Chester County moved off the list of the 25 most ozone-polluted counties in the nation, dropping to 30th place from 24th in last year’s report. Many counties improved their grades this year; most notably, Mercer and Westmoreland counties, which went up to a C from their previous F grades for particle pollution and Washington County, which improved to a passing grade for year-round levels. Others showing strong improvement in particle exposure this year are Burkes, Erie and Luzerne counties, with grades moving to a D from F grades. Cambria County also improved its ozone grade from an F to a D.
Virginia
Northern Virginia continues to suffer from high levels of air pollution as part of the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area, as noted above. Fairfax County, part of that metropolitan area, was ranked as the 23rd most ozone-polluted county in the nation, its first time on that list. Virginia counties generally had significantly fewer unhealthy ozone and particle pollution days in 2002-2004 than in 2001-2003. Rockbridge County and Lynchburg City improved their grades to an A for ozone and particle pollution, respectively. In more good news, several counties improved their grades from an F, most notably Page County and Roanoke County for ozone and Richmond City for particle levels, all of which improved to a C grade.
West Virginia
In addition to its DC suburbs included as part of the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area, other cities in West Virginia ranked among the nation’s most polluted. Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH ranked 12th most polluted by particle pollution year-round, along with Charleston at 20th and Hagerstown-Martinsburg, MD-WV, tied for 22nd. Weirton-Steubenville also landed at 20th place on the list of cities most polluted by particles over the short-term. Hancock County ranked 15th and Brooke County tied for 22nd most polluted year-round by particles, with Kanawha County ranked at 25th.
In good news for West Virginia, many counties had many fewer days with unhealthy air and, consequently, greatly improved their grades during 2002-2004 compared with 2001-2003. Tops on that list are Marion and Ohio counties, where the levels of year-round particles improved enough to give them a passing grade for the first time. Berkley County also improved its air quality enough to improve to a grade of D from an F.
Region 4: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
The Southeast saw some of the strongest improvements in ozone and particle pollution of any region in 2002-2004. Every state in the region had many fewer unhealthy ozone and particle pollution days. Even with those reductions, several cities in the Southeast remained on the lists of most polluted cities in the nation. Three cities made both lists for worst particle pollution levels. Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL tied with Atlanta-Sandy-Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL for 9th most polluted year-round by particle pollution. Birmingham’s yearround particle levels worsened from the previous report, which had the city ranked only 15th. Birmingham improved to 17th most polluted by short-term particle pollution from 10th in last year’s report. Louisville-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, KY-IN improved to 18th for short-term particle pollution from 13th and ranked 25th for yearround levels. Parts of Kentucky are included in the Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, OH-KY-IN metropolitan area, which ranked on all three worst lists. Ozone also remained a significant problem, despite these improvements. Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette, TN and Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC remained firmly on the list of most ozone-polluted cities at 14th and 15th, despite improvements. Moving up to the most polluted list for ozone in this year’s report was Raleigh-Durham-Cary, NC at 19th.
Alabama
Birmingham’s high burden of particle pollution persists, as shown by its continued ranking on both lists for most particle pollution. Birmingham had higher levels of particles year round, but had roughly only half as many days with dangerous spikes in particle levels. The Alabama counties that are extensions of Atlanta’s suburbs also risk exposure to the same year-round particle pollution problem that landed Atlanta 9th on the most particle-polluted year-round. Many counties saw fewer unhealthy air pollution days especially for ozone, although two counties had a few additional high particle days in 2002-2004 than in 2001-2003.
The good news in Alabama was that four cities ranked among the cleanest for short-term levels of particle pollution: Florence-Muscle Shoals, Gadsden, Huntsville-Decatur and Tuscaloosa. Gadsden also ranked among the cleanest for ozone. Etowah County was also one of the cleanest counties in the nation for ozone and short-term levels of particle pollution. Ten other Alabama counties also ranked among the cleanest counties for short-term levels of particles.
Florida
Florida had some of the cleanest cities and counties in the nation. Six cities were among the cleanest cities for ozone pollution: Deltona-Daytona Beach-Palm Coast, Gainesville, Lakeland, Naples-Marco Island, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville and Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce. Three ranked among the cleanest for year-round particle levels: Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville ranked 17th cleanest and Cape Coral-Fort Myers ranked 18th, while Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce ranked as the 22nd cleanest. In addition to Deltona-Daytona Beach-Palm Coast, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Port St. Lucie-Fort Pierce and Cape Coral-Fort Myers, seven other cities made it on the list of the cleanest for short-term particle pollution: Gainesville, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Ocala, Orlando-The Villages, Sarasota- Bradenton-Venice and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater.
Sixteen counties landed on the list of the cleanest counties for short-term exposure to particles. Fourteen counties were on the list of the cleanest counties for ozone pollution.
Georgia
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Gainesville, GA-AL remained ranked 9th on the list of the cities most polluted by year-round particle pollution, driven by levels in Fulton County that kept it ranked as the 12th most polluted county for that pollutant. Many counties did improve their air quality and their grades from the previous year’s report. Most notably, Clarke County improved to passing from its previous failing grade for annual particle pollution. DeKalb County improved to a D from an F for daily particle pollution levels.
Georgia also had cities with good air quality. Athens and Valdosta both made the list of cleanest cities for short-term particle pollution. Brunswick made the list of cleanest cities for ozone pollution. Glynn County ranked among the cleanest counties for ozone, while Clarke, Houston and Lowndes counties were among the cleanest counties for short-term particle pollution.
Kentucky
Louisville-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, KY-IN continued to have a serious particle pollution problem, though levels dropped from the 2005 report. The Louisville metro area remained on the list of the cities most polluted by short-term and yearround particle pollution, but improved its ranking to 18th from 13th on the shortterm list and to 25th from 21st on the year-round ranking. Several northern Kentucky counties were part of the Cincinnati-Middletown-Wilmington, OH-KYIN metropolitan area that tied for 13th most polluted by year-round particle levels and tied for 20thh most polluted by short-term particle pollution. Both of those rankings were improvements over the metropolitan area’s 2005 rankings.
Several Kentucky counties improved their air quality from last year’s report. Most notably, Fayette County improved to passing from failing the year-round particle grade and Perry County improved to an A from a D in short-term particle pollution. Bell County improved to a D from an F in ozone pollution.
Several Kentucky cities ranked among the cleanest cities for short-term particle pollution: Bowling Green, Corbin-London and Hopkinsville, as part of the Clarksville, TN-KY metropolitan area. Six Kentucky counties were among the cleanest counties for short-term particle pollution and one was among the cleanest counties for ozone pollution.
Mississippi
Mississippi had generally good air quality, with all counties getting passing grades in every category. Hattiesburg earned a spot on the list of the cleanest cities for short-term particles. Warren County earned a similar spot on the list of cleanest counties for ozone pollution.
North Carolina
Ozone remained the biggest air quality problem in North Carolina. Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC, remained on the list of most ozone-polluted cities in the nation, but cleaned up enough to improve its ranking to 15th from 12th. Raleigh-Durham-Cary landed on the list of most ozone-polluted cities, moving up to 19th place from 26th in the 2005 report. Several counties improved their air quality, including Yancey County, which improved its ozone grade to a D from an F. Despite the problems with ozone in North Carolina, Swain County earned a spot on the list of cleanest counties for ozone pollution. Jacksonville, Lumberton-Laurinburg and Wilmington ranked among the cleanest cities for short-term particle pollution.
South Carolina
Ozone was the most widespread problem in South Carolina, but particulate pollution emerged as a year-round problem in Greenville County, with that county failing for particle pollution in this year’s report. York County, as part of the Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC metropolitan area, shared that metro area’s ranking as the 15th most ozone-polluted city in the nation. The good news came for the City of Florence, which landed on the list of cleanest cities for short-term particle pollution and Berkeley County, which earned a spot on the list of cleanest counties for ozone.
Tennessee
Knoxville-Sevierville-La Follette remained the 14th most ozone-polluted city in the nation, a slightly worse position than in the 2005 report, when it ranked 15th. Blount and Sevier counties, which remain on the list of most ozone-polluted counties in the nation, tied for 24th place. Several counties improved their air quality, including Knox County, which improved to a C from an F in short-term particle pollution. However, Rutherford County dropped its ozone grade to an F from a D in the 2005 report. Eight Tennessee counties landed on the cleanest counties for short-term particle levels.
Regional Analyses continued... |
