A recent report by the American Lung Association has highlighted an alarming trend in air quality across the United States, with nearly half of the population residing in areas afflicted by unhealthy levels of harmful air pollution.
The 26th annual “State of the Air” report, which analyzes air quality from 2021 to 2023, assesses three major measures of air pollution: ozone pollution, short-term particle pollution, and annual particle pollution.
According to the findings, 46% of the U.S. population — approximately 156 million people — live in regions that received failing grades in all three categories. This marks a significant increase of nearly 25 million people from the previous year, a troubling trend not seen in over a decade.
Contributing factors to this escalation in air pollution include extreme heat, wildfires, and drought conditions.
In 2023, a devastating heat wave in Texas, combined with smoke from Canadian wildfires, led to heightened levels of ozone and particle pollution across the nation, reaching levels not witnessed in many years.
Within Texas, several cities ranked among the top 10 in the United States for ground-level ozone pollution, also known as smog, and year-round particle pollution, or soot.
Houston emerged as the seventh worst city in the U.S. for high ozone days out of 228 metropolitan areas and ranked eighth for annual particle pollution among 208 metropolitan areas.
Dallas also made the list, sitting at number 10 for ozone pollution.
Additionally, the Lung Association graded counties throughout the U.S. that had available ozone data, assigning letter grades from A to F based on the number of high ozone days.
Eighteen Texas counties received F ratings, including major areas like Travis, Bexar, Dallas, and Tarrant counties.
Harold Wimmer, the president and CEO of the American Lung Association, emphasized the day-to-day health impacts families in the U.S. are facing due to air pollution.
He stated, “Air pollution is causing kids to have asthma attacks, making people who work outdoors sick, and leading to low birth weight in babies,” pointing out the significant toll air pollution takes on public health.
Moreover, the report reveals a concerning disparity in how air quality impacts different demographics.
People of color and those with lower incomes are disproportionately affected by air pollution, experiencing a higher risk of illness.
Specifically, the report noted that Hispanic individuals are three times more likely than white people to reside in communities that receive failing grades in all three pollution measures.
Wimmer took aim at recent efforts to cut funding and staff at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), warning that these changes will leave more people vulnerable to harmful air pollution.
He stressed, “Even as more people are breathing unhealthy air, the federal staff, programs and policies that are supposed to be cleaning up pollution are facing rollbacks, restructuring and funding challenges.”
The EPA has been instrumental in providing clean air initiatives, from reliable air quality forecasts to ensuring that violators of pollution laws are held accountable.
Wimmer concluded by expressing the urgent need to safeguard the EPA and its capacity to protect public health through effective air quality management.
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