Environment

L.A. tops list of nation's most polluted

by Victoria Revay | May 1, 2007 at 10:03 am

2297 views | 0 Recommendations | 2 comments

Not surprising: Los Angeles is smoggy and the air quality sucks. The American Lung Association just released a report that found that the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside metropolitan area had the worst air quality based on 2003-2005 figures. Here are the top five offenders:

Los Angeles
Pittsburgh
Bakersfield
Birmingham
Detroit

Hmmm, so air quality seems to be getting better, despite overall population and economic growth in these United States? Why doesn't that sort of thing ever get pushed to the top of such stories?

"Nobody is surprised that LA has an air pollution problem," said Janice Nolen, the association's assistant vice president for national policy and advocacy. "The problems there are one of the reasons we have the Clean Air Act. But it is important for folks to know that there has been some improvement."

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

chaz

at 16:30 on May 1st, 2007

No one here mentioned that California has "special clean air laws of it's own" more stringent than elsewhere. HHhhmmmmm

Why didn't the "extra effort" that they push into laws, do more ?

Good news overall, you know - I see more birds than I have over the past years too.

I'm just a canary in a coal mine. Thanks for some good news.

Brian A Kennedy

at 03:47 on May 2nd, 2007

Those photos bring back tragic memories of going to high school in LA -- they'd have to cancel sports practice about ten times a year because kids were choking and gasping out on the field. Damn, I'd heard things had gotten better since the '80s...