The American Lung Association’s 25th annual “State of the Air” report underscores that despite decades of significant progress in air purification, Washington continues to grapple with formidable air pollution challenges. The report evaluates exposure to unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone air pollution, annual particle pollution, and short-term spikes in particle pollution over a three-year period. The current report incorporates air quality data from 2020-2022 and is updated to reflect the new annual particle pollution standard that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized in February.
“In the 25 years that the American Lung Association has been doing our ‘State of the Air’ report, we have seen incredible improvement in our nation’s air quality. Unfortunately, more than 131 million people still live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution, and Washington struggles with particle pollution levels,” said Carrie Nyssen, Senior Director of Advocacy for the American Lung Association.
Nyssen added that climate change is exacerbating air pollution formation and making it more challenging to mitigate. She emphasized that there are necessary actions we can take to improve air quality and called on EPA to establish long-overdue stronger national limits on ozone pollution.
The report monitored short-term spikes in particle pollution, which can be extremely hazardous and even lethal. Yakima County ranked 12th worst in the nation for short-term particle pollution based on an average number of unhealthy days—18.3 days per year, earning an F grade. Additionally, Yakima County received a failing grade for exceeding recently updated federal standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
King County ranked 45th worst nationally for ozone pollution based on an average number of unhealthy days—4 days per year, also receiving an F grade. King County also ranked 13th worst nationally for short-term particle pollution.
The Bellingham metro area was among the nation's cleanest cities for ozone pollution, recording no unhealthy days for this pollutant. However, it ranked 30th worst nationally for short-term particle pollution.
Snohomish County received a passing grade for maintaining pollution levels below the recently updated federal standard set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. However, the Seattle-Tacoma, WA metro area's ranking worsened compared to last year's report.
The “State of the Air” report found that nationally, over 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. The report also revealed that communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air and are more likely to be living with one or more chronic conditions that make them more vulnerable to air pollution.
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.
The EPA recently finalized new air pollution rules that will help mitigate particle pollution and address climate change. Now, the Lung Association is urging EPA to set long overdue stronger national limits on ozone pollution.
