The air we breathe in the Lehigh Valley has room for improvement, the American Lung Association says in a new report being released Wednesday.
The association’s 25th annual “State of the Air” report for 2024 gauges nationwide air quality data from 2020-22 and is updated to reflect new annual particle pollution standards finalized in February by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Covering Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania and Warren County, New Jersey, the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area showed slight improvements in all three pollutant measures — ground-level ozone, also called smog; short-term spikes in particle pollution over a three-year period; and the year-round average of particle pollution.
The report marks a fourth-consecutive year of improvement in smog pollution, posting its best-ever record for a second year in a row, according to the report.
Overall, however, the Lehigh Valley metro area earned a C grade and ranks fourth-worst in the Mid-Atlantic region covering Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
“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,” Aimee VanCleave, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association, said in a news release. “Unfortunately, more than 131 million people still live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution ... .
“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 in Pennsylvania, including adopting zero-emission standards for passenger vehicles and heavy-duty trucks. We are also calling on EPA to set long-overdue stronger national limits on ozone pollution.”
Findings in the report available at lung.org reflect:
Ground-level Ozone Pollution in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metro area: The “State of the Air” report looked at levels of ozone “smog,” the air pollutant affecting the largest number of people in the United States. The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metro area ranked 79th-worst in the nation for ozone pollution. The ranking was based on the area’s worst county’s average number of unhealthy days — 1 day per year, a C grade, in Northampton County. This was better than the area’s ranking in last year’s report of 65th-worst, with 1.3 days per year, also a C grade.
Particle Pollution in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metro area: The report tracked short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely dangerous and even deadly. The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metro area ranked 79th-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 — 1.3 days per year, a C grade, in Northampton County. This was better than the area’s ranking in last year’s report of 74th-worst, with 1.5 days per year, also a C grade.
For the year-round average level of particle pollution, the area’s worst county, Lehigh County, received a passing grade for pollution levels below the federal standard that was recently updated by the EPA. The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metro area ranked 84th-worst in the nation. This was better than the area’s ranking in last year’s report of 79th-worst in the nation.
Reflecting 2020-22 data, the air quality report does not take into account last year’s bouts with Canadian wildfire smoke in the Lehigh Valley that left the Lehigh Valley with the worst air quality in the nation for particle pollution at one point in June.
In addition to the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metro area metro area, other notable findings across Pennsylvania include:
- The Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area improved for all three pollutant measures in this year’s report, including setting new record best-ever values for ozone smog and year-round particle pollution. Despite improvement in ozone, it still earns a failing grade and is now worst-ranked in the Mid-Atlantic region for ozone smog.
- Harrisburg-York-Lebanon, PA Metro Area Ranked 37th most polluted in the U.S. for year-round particle pollution and second-worst in the Mid-Atlantic; third-worst for daily particle pollution; and earns a B grade for ozone.
- The Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV metro area was the worst in the Mid-Atlantic for both measures of particle pollution, earning failing grades for both; and third-worst in region for ozone smog with a D 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.
A nationwide look at rising levels of hazardous and very unhealthy particle pollution is represented in this graphic released April 24, 2024, by the American Lung Association as part of its 25th annual “State of the Air” report.Courtesy image | For lehighvalleylive.com
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, according to the American Lung Association; particle pollution can also cause lung cancer.
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Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.