The air is bad enough in two of the state’s five counties that the American Lung Association has given them an “F” for ozone pollution, and a third county received a “D”.
Washington and Kent Counties were part of a list of nearly 400 U.S. counties to receive an “F” on this year’s American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report — an increase of 15 percent over last year. Providence County received a D, and Newport County wasn’t included in the study.
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“Without a doubt, our health remains threatened by air pollution,” said Margaret Kane, executive director of the American Lung Association of Rhode Island. “State of the Air confirms that over 280,000 of Rhode Island’s residents are at risk for health problems from smog. That includes over 56,000 children. We have no choice but to continue to strengthen our air pollution control laws and to take individual steps to clean the air and protect our health.”
State of the Air 2001 looked at the most recent ozone air quality data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from the years 1997 through 1999 and ranked counties based on how often their air quality exceeded “unhealthful” levels of the Air Quality Index. The EPA uses a five-step scale to measure air quality: good, moderate, unhealthy for sensitive groups, unhealthy and very unhealthy.
Ozone is a highly reactive form of oxygen that results from the action of sunlight on hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides emitted in fuel combustion. According to the American Lung Association, ozone levels typically rise during the period of May and October when higher temperatures and an increased amount of sunlight combine with the stagnant atmospheric conditions that are associated with ozone air pollution episodes.
Art Handy, a spokesperson for the American Lung Association of Rhode Island said this state’s ozone is also affected by traffic as well as the air quality of neighboring states.
“We are a small state so we wind up getting the geographic over-wash from New York and Connecticut,” he said. “That is especially felt in the Washington County area.”
Massachusetts counties fared even worse in the study, with eight out of nine receiving a failing grade. Bristol County, home to two of the state’s power stations, Brayton Point and Montaup ranked the worst.
According to the American Lung Association of Rhode Island the grades aren’t reflective of the state’s efforts to curb pollution.
“Rhode Island has started an emissions inspection for passenger vehicles. This program will keep thousands of pounds of pollutants out of Rhode Island’s air,” Kane said. “But, clearly we must do more to cut emissions significantly if we are to bring ozone levels down so that it’s safe for children, the elderly and even healthy adults to spend time outdoors on warm, sunny days.”
Handy said the results are meant to alert people to be more sensitive to ozone alerts.
“We don’t want people to use less electricity,” he said. “We just want them to pay attention when these ozone alerts come up.”
