Springfield, IL (WTAX) – The Springfield metro area is no longer one of the cleanest cities nationwide for ozone or particle pollution. The American Lung Association released its 2024 “State of the Air” report Wednesday, and the report grades levels of ground-level ozone air pollution, annual particle pollution and short-term spikes in particle pollution over a three-year period.
“In the 25 years that the American Lung Association has been doing our ‘State of the Air’ report, we have seen incredible improvement in the nation’s air quality. Unfortunately, more than 131 million people still live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution, and central and southern Illinois still have work to do,” said Kristina Hamilton, Director of Advocacy for the American Lung Association. “Climate change is making air pollution more likely to form and more difficult to clean up. So, there are actions we can and must take to improve air quality, including investing in zero emission vehicle infrastructure, adopting the Advance Clean Trucks rule, and calling on the U.S. EPA to set long-overdue stronger national limits on ozone pollution.”
Ozone (or smog) is the air pollutant affecting the greatest number of people in the United States. In the report, the Springfield metro area ranked 79th worst in the nation for ozone. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—1 day per year, a C grade, in Sangamon County, IL. This was worse than the area’s ranking in last year’s report among the nation’s cleanest cities, with 0 days per year, an A grade.
The report also tracked short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely dangerous and even deadly. The Springfield metro area ranked 124th worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days—0.3 days per year, a B grade, in Sangamon County, Illinois. This was worse than the area’s ranking in last year’s report among the nation’s cleanest cities, with 0 days per year, an A grade.
The “State of the Air” report found that nationally, more than 131 million people live in an area that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution, and 43.9 million people live in areas with failing grades for all three measures. In the three years covered by this report, individuals in the U.S. experienced the highest number of days when particle pollution reached “very unhealthy” and “hazardous” levels in the history of reporting the “State of the Air.” Communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air and are also more likely to be living with one or more chronic conditions that make them more vulnerable to air pollution, including asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. The report found that a person of color in the U.S. is more than twice as likely as a white individual to live in a community with a failing grade on all three pollution measures.
Both ozone and particle pollution can cause premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes, preterm births, and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution can also cause lung cancer. . See the full report results and at Lung.org/SOTA.