Report Shows Just How Bad Los Angeles County Pollution Is

LOS ANGELES, CA — Few Angelenos would be shocked to learn that air pollution is high in the City of Angels, but they may not realize just how bad the problem is. Los Angeles endures the worst air pollution in the nation, according to analyses of more than 2,400 U.S. cities analyzed.

There is good news in the report by IQAir. Pollution in Los Angeles decreased by 6 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, CNN reported Tuesday. The report comes as overall air pollution worldwide spiked to unhealthy levels over the last year. IQAir, which tracks global air quality, found that in 2021, 97 percent of cities exceeded the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines.

On one day in November, air pollution measure in Los Angeles was more than seven times the recommended WHO guidelines in LA.

In Southern California, the poor air quality stems from pollution produced by factories, cars, ports and the dramatic increase in catastrophic wildfires. Our geography and sunlight don't help because they contribute to temperature inversion, which traps smog and ozone at ground level. Fine particulate matter released into the air by wildfires and the burning of fossil fuels causes health problems such as asthma and heart disease and claims millions of lives annually.

"The (United States') reliance on fossil fuels, increasing severity of wildfires as well as varying enforcement of the Clean Air Act from administration to administration have all added to U.S. air pollution," the authors wrote in the story reported by CNN.

Los Angeles remained the nation's most polluted city despite the fact that pollution dropped here and increase significantly in cities such as Atlanta and Minneapolis, according to IQAir. The report found that air pollution in the United States exceeded WHO guidelines by two to three times in 2021.

"This report underscores the need for governments around the world to help reduce global air pollution," Glory Dolphin Hammes, CEO of IQAir North America, told CNN. "(Fine particulate matter) kills far too many people every year and governments need to set more stringent air quality national standards and explore better foreign policies that promote better air quality."

Worldwide, only 222 cities of the 6,475 analyzed met the WHO standards. Three territories that met the WHO guidelines are the French territory of New Caledonia, and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were among the countries with the worst air pollution, exceeding the WHO guidelines by at least 10 times. Countries with the best air quality included Scandinavian countries, Australia, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom, CNN reported. Pollution in those countries exceeded the WHO guidelines by just 1 or 2 times

Fossil fuel-powered transportation, energy production and wildfires were the main sources of pollution in the United States, according to researchers, and affect the country's most vulnerable and marginalized communities.

"We are heavily dependent on fossil fuels, especially in terms of transportation," Hammes, who lives a few miles from Los Angeles, told CNN. "We can act smartly on this with zero emissions, but we're still not doing it. And this is having a devastating impact on the air pollution that we're seeing in major cities."

Pollution monitoring stations in 6,475 cities in 117 countries, regions and territories were used in the analysis for the report by IQAir.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.