More U.S. areas flunk smog test
By Miguel Llanos, MSNBC
May 1 — Some 141 million Americans — more
than half the nation — live in areas that received
an “F” in a report on air quality released
Tuesday by the American Lung Association. The
number is nine million more than last year, in
part due to a hotter-than-average summer. But
far from calling that factor an exception, the
group warned that it could become the norm if
global warming sets in...
In terms of urban areas, the four worst were in
California: Greater Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno and
the San Joaquin Valley. Rounding out the 10 worst were:
Houston, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, N.C.,
Knoxville, Tenn., and Philadelphia...
Most of them are no big surprise, but Knoxville? Knoxville is around half the size of the rest of the cities on this list. There are no major smog producing industries. If the report says it’s so, it most likely is, but I still don’t see it.
TN*hippie, Sir Rhosis, any other former Knoxvillians, does this report surprise you as much as it did me?
Whippee!!! I live in one of the 12 least smoggy cities (Duluth, MN). Although it gets cold enough during the winter so that you can (literally) pound nails using bananas, and spit freezes before it hits the ground. Oh, and finding a job borders on impossible. So I guess it all evens out.
I live about an hour from Knoxville and I was shocked to see this. I can only assume it is caused from the large amount of traffic traveling through. However, the overlook areas near Grandfather Mountain on the Tennessee/North Carolina border are becoming pointless because of the smog–you can’t see but a few feet some days. It’s becoming bad all around this area.
Out here east of LA, it’s steadily getting worse. I’ve noticed that my lungs start burning more when I try running. I guess that’s one reason to be glad that I’ll soon be back in Ky, but Lexington actually has had some bad air days in the past few years. We’re really small, but we’ve got tons of cars and not the roads are always clogged. We don’t have any important industrial pollution sources.
In my experience, people who live in very polluted areas become accustomed to it and might not even notice it. Most of my extended family lives in the LA area (#1 on the Bad Air List) and they always seem surprised when I have horrible smog-related allergy attacks while visiting. My grandmother refused to believe my constant sneezing had anything to do with the air; it had to be a cold. Because my allergic self is so lucky, the rest of my family lives in Mexico City. Yay for breathing!
Now I’m looking at the official chart (of California counties), and I have no idea how some of these numbers can jive. They give counties letter grades, based on how many High Ozone Days they have. My county has been awarded a D. The neighboring county to the south has an A. I live less than ten miles from the county line. Hmm.
Yeah, Atlanta celebrated the beginning of smog season Tuesday. Yippee, hooray.
Knoxville surpised me a little, but when I was young and living there, Chattanooga apparently had a serious air quality problem. They put a lot of effort into cleaning it up-they’re not one of the 10 best yet, but from what I remember the EPA said all sorts of great things about the turnaround.
I think Knoxville is bad due to the Interstate traffic and the Smoky mtns. Air stagnates there. That’s why they are called the Smokies.
The areas with the cleanest air were given only in alphabetical order. They were Bellingham, Wash.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Des Moines, Iowa; Duluth, Minn.; Fargo, N.D.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; Honolulu; Laredo, Texas; Lincoln, Neb.; McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas; Salinas, Calif.; and Spokane, Wash.