Alicia Abelson
WASHINGTON (WMAL)– The Washington-Baltimore region is the 39th most polluted area in the United States, according to the American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air Report.
Six of the top ten most polluted areas within the United States are in California, including Los Angeles-Long Beach, California, which ranks at number one.
The top 10 cities include:
1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, California
2. Bakersfield, California
3. Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, California
4. Fresno-Madera, California
5. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona
6. Sacramento-Roseville, California
7. Modesto-Merced, California
8. Denver-Aurora, Colorado
9. Las Vegas-Henderson, Nevada
10. Fort Collins, Colorado
Lyndsay Moseley Alexander, director of the American Lung Association’s Healthy Air Campaign, says that pollution levels are improving across the nation.
“This is the best year ever for ozone pollution in the history of the report,” she said.
But, she added, “while there has been progress, we still need to see more pollution to be reduced, and unless we see those emissions decline, we will continue to see that public health is at risk.”
Alexander says that two major sources of pollution in the Washington-Arlington-Baltimore region are coal fired power plants and vehicle traffic.
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