Montgomery County Gets 'F' Air Quality Grade In New Study

The American Lung Association released its "State of the Air 2018" report this week and gave Montgomery County an F grade for ozone pollution. The study also found that overall, ozone pollution has worsened significantly in America from 2014-2016 compared to its previous report, which looked at 2013-2015.

To determine the pollution grade, the American Lung Association assigned increasing weights to the days when air pollution levels reached higher ranges. Those were added together, and the weighted average was calculated. Grades were then assigned based on that weighted average. The full methodology can be found by clicking here.

The air in Philadelphia and all four counties in its immediate suburbs (Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware) all received an F grade. Philadelphia is among the country's most polluted cities, the report said. You can examine the full report by clicking here.

More than 40 percent of Americans live in counties with an unhealthy level of either smog or soot, the study said.

The authors emphasized the need to keep the Clean Air Act intact, funded and enforced — something some lawmakers have targeted for repeal. The study says the number of people exposed to unhealthy levels of air pollution increased to nearly 134 million people, up from 125 million in their previous report.

Furthermore, the authors said climate change contributed to worsening smog levels, particularly with record-setting heat.

"The spike in ozone demonstrates the public health impact of increased temperatures from the changing climate on the nation's air quality," the report said. "With 2016 marking the second warmest year on record, the higher temperatures provided fuel to increase the formation of ozone from the still under-controlled emissions of the precursor emissions."

Ozone and particle pollution are associated with premature death, developmental harm, reproductive harm, lung cancer and heart damage, the ALA says.

Patch reporters Kara Seymour and Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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