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 “State of the Air” report noted that Los Angeles held its 25th infamous title despite a nearly 40% decline 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. Los Angeles, Visalia, Bakersfield, Fresno and San Diego were one of the list of cities where ozone was most polluted. Bakersfield, Visalia, Fresno, Los Angeles and Sacramento were in the top 10 due to the worst particle contamination.
The report comes about a month after the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration announces plans to loosen or eliminate a wide range of environmental regulations that many experts could have a negative impact on temperament, reversing decades of progress in California.
“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 Air Conditions report tracks two major types of air pollution. Ozone pollution, mainly tailpipe emissions and heat factors, and particulate pollution driven primarily by droughts and wildfires. 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 up by smog 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 nationally leading rules to reduce emissions from vehicles and industrial facilities, including Senate Bill 32 of 2014 and Congressional Bill 398 of 2017, and have enacted strict greenhouse gas emissions restrictions and cap-and-trade systems.
While electric and cleaner automotive engines have significantly reduced pollution, 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.
Although air quality in California has improved significantly since the first “Air Conditions” report in 2000, concerns about climate change and new laws exist. California Senate Bill 712 will completely exempt collectors’ vehicles from smog check requirements, “thawing progress several decades ago,” Lucho 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.
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