The American Lung Association’s “State of the Air 2012” report shows improvement in air quality, but underscores the need for more progress.
The good news?
When it comes to air quality, the Pittsburgh region earned its best rank ever recorded for daily (short-term) particle pollution, moving into 6th place on the nation’s worst 25 list for this pollutant from third-place last year.
The bad news is that we still rank among the 25 most polluted cities for ozone, and daily and year-round particle pollution. Our ranking for year-round particle pollution worsened from 7seventh to sixth place and for ground-level ozone worsened to 20th from 24th place.
While air quality overall has improved, the ranking for these two pollutants has gotten worse because we didn’t make as much progress in reducing them as other metro others have.
Read more about the local environmental groups’ reaction to the air quality report here.
What can be done to help address the ozone and PM2.5 air pollution problem locally:
Pennsylvania and Allegheny County Health Department should develop air pollution regulations to control emissions from natural gas drilling.
Allegheny County and local institutions should implement clean construction policies to limit diesel emissions generated through construction activity.
Fleet owners should not idle their diesel vehicle and any unnecessary idling should be reported to the Allegheny County Health Department or PA DEP.
Join GASP to learn more about how you can advocate for improved air quality!