YORK, Pa. — The American Lung Association's 25th annual State of the Air report is out, offering a fresh look at Pennsylvania's air quality and its impacts on our health.
Despite decades of progress cleaning up air pollution, 39% of Americans still live in places with failing grades for unhealthy air. What's worse, experts say that number is nearly 12 million more people compared to last year, making even more people at risk for premature death and other serious health effects like cancer.
On a local level, the 2024 State of the Air report shows the Harrisburg metro area is the 37th most polluted in the country for year-round particle pollution.
"Fine particle pollution continues to be a problem in both the Harrisburg, York and Lebanon metro area and the Lancaster metro area—we know that they're both getting F grades for the year-round measure under the new, more protective year-round standard, and Harrisburg is the second worst after Pittsburgh," said Kevin Stewart with the American Lung Association.
The daily measure for particle pollution in the same area was a bit better, earning a D grade. The Lancaster metro area didn't do much better, earning an F for both. Stewart says there are a number of reasons why.
"It is coming from incomplete burning, it can be trash and leaves, it can be from diesel engines, it can be from power plants; the idea is that there's some kind of combustion going on that is a major part of it, but it's not the only part. There are other things that go into the air... even ammonia can actually react to form some particles in the air as well," he said.
Stewart says the report, however, is not all bad. This year saw some good news concerning ozone levels.
"The ozone levels... ozone smog, which has been a big problem in past decades for both the Lancaster and the Harrisburg area, has improved to their best ever levels," he said.
The EPA recently finalized new air pollution rules that will help clean up particle pollution and address climate change. Now, the Lung Association is urging the EPA to set long overdue stronger national limits on ozone pollution. Stronger limits would help people protect themselves and drive cleanup of polluting sources across the country.
The American Lung Association says the goal of this report is to help it see what the current problems are and how we can work toward a better, cleaner tomorrow. Those interested can see the full report results and sign the petition here.