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News Articles: air quality

Men cross the street in smog filled downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. December 12, 2017. Sometimes during the winter, temperature inversions form in the Salt Lake Valley, when the upper air temperature is warmer than the air on the valley floor, forming a lid, trapping polluted air. REUTERS/George Frey

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Fulton County earns its first passing grade for air quality from the American Lung Association

Atlanta's ozone pollution is the fourth worst of cities in the Southeast. The Lung Association uses data from 2019 to 2021 in its 2023 report.

April 19, 2023
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
EPA Administrator Michael Regan stands near the Marathon Petroleum Refinery in Reserve, La., on Nov. 16, 2021. The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday awarded grants for projects to monitor air quality in 37 states.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

The EPA awards grants to monitor air quality in communities hurt by pollution

Dozens of projects will receive millions to boost monitoring near industrial sites. The Biden administration wants to focus on environmental justice in communities impacted by decades of pollution.

November 03, 2022
|
By:
  • The Associated Press
Plant Bowen in Bartow County

Tagged as: 

  • Energy

Georgia’s coal-fired plant closings likely to go on despite Supreme Court EPA ruling

The West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency opinion was a victory for Georgia and 18 other Republican-led states as it limits Democratic President Joe Biden’s ability to pursue his climate goals. 

July 01, 2022
|
By:
  • Stanley Dunlap
A recent study by the American Lung Association found that more Americans are living in areas with increased levels of air pollution. Los Angeles has recorded the worst levels of ozone for all but one of the past 23 years.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

More than 137 million Americans live in areas with poor air quality, report finds

The rising number of fires hamper decades of environmental efforts, and over 40% of Americans — more than 137 million people — live in places with poor air quality, a new report says.

April 21, 2022
|
By:
  • Dustin Jones
Officials in Bibb County were counting on proof of concept from the Brightmark plastic recycling plant in Indiana, shown here, before greenlighting a similar plant in Macon.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Macon-Bibb Industrial Authority ends talks on plastics recycling plant

In late December, Brightmark admitted to the authority it failed to meet the deadline to prove its facility in another state was able to deliver the recycled end-product to another user, which was a condition of the sale.

April 11, 2022
|
By:
  • Liz Fabian
Open windows and portable air cleaners can help improve ventilation, but many schools in the U.S. are more than 45 years old and need a complete overhaul of their HVAC systems.

Tagged as: 

  • Children's Health

Better air in classrooms matters beyond COVID. Here's why schools aren't there yet

Boosting ventilation and filtration not only lowers the risk of transmission, it's also linked to higher test scores and better health. But making upgrades is more complex than it sounds.

March 17, 2022
|
By:
  • Maria Godoy
Interstate 405 cuts through neighborhoods near the Los Angeles International Airport, seen here in 2017. A new study found links between modern urban air pollution and historical redlining at the national level.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Even many decades later, redlined areas see higher levels of air pollution

"We see a really clear association between how these maps were drawn in the '30s and the air pollution disparities today," says an author of a study on the effects of the discriminatory policy.

March 10, 2022
|
By:
  • Laurel Wamsley
A thick haze hangs over Manhattan on Tuesday. Wildfires in the West, including the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, are creating hazy skies and poor air quality as far away as the East Coast.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

The Western Wildfires Are Affecting People 3,000 Miles Away

Eastern states have been clouded in a smoky haze for days, and with the smoke comes poor air quality. People far away from the fires aren't ready for the breathing problems the smoke brings.

July 22, 2021
|
By:
  • Josie Fischels
Atlanta traffic

Tagged as: 

  • Health

American Lung Association Report Says Air In Georgia Cities Unhealthy

The pandemic has brought new attention to respiratory health. People with chronic lung disease are at a greater risk of suffering serious complications from COVID-19, including death, and were included early on in the governor’s stay-at-home order more than a year ago.

April 21, 2021
|
By:
  • Jill Nolin
A field hospital tent for suspected COVID-19 patient triage was set up outside the emergency department of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles, California. A surge in deaths has prompted the county to lift environmental limits on the number of cremations that can be performed each month.

Tagged as: 

  • National

Cremation Limits Lifted In LA Due To 'Backlog' As COVID-19 Deaths Skyrocket

Air quality limits on cremations are temporarily suspended in Los Angeles because of increased demand due to COVID-19. Officials say the death rate is now more than double that of pre-pandemic years.

January 19, 2021
|
By:
  • Rachel Treisman
A firefighter battles the Glass Fire in Napa Valley, Calif., on Thursday.

Tagged as: 

  • National

California Wildfires Near Tragic Milestone: 4 Million Acres Burned

The unprecedented fire season has already killed 30 people, and burned down thousands of buildings and homes, forcing over 96,000 residents to evacuate.

October 02, 2020
|
By:
  • Marisa Peñaloza
Maricela, shown here picking grapes in southern Oregon this week, says she can't think about the long-term health effects of the smoke from wildfires. She asked NPR to use only her first name because she doesn't have work papers.

Tagged as: 

  • National

'I Have To Work': Agricultural Workers In The West Harvest Crops Through Fire Smoke

"The smoke is so dense," one agricultural worker in Oregon told NPR. "I feel dizzy, my throat hurts and my head feels like it's going to explode." Their employers are also faced with tough choices.

September 17, 2020
|
By:
  • Marisa Peñaloza
A Nissan Leaf charges at an electric vehicle charging station in Portland, Oregon.

Tagged as: 

  • Economy

Addition Of Electric Vehicles To City Fleet Helps Push 'Savannah Forward'

Transportation — trucks, trains, planes and automobiles — is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Electric vehicles offer a less...

July 08, 2019
|
By:
  • Emilia Brock and
  • Virginia Prescott

Tagged as: 

  • News

"On Second Thought" For Tuesday, April 30, 2019

A recent study by the American Lung Association shows the air along Georgia's coast and in the mountains is clean and unpolluted. But in the metro...

April 30, 2019
|
By:
  • Virginia Prescott ,
  • Amy Kiley ,
  • and 4 more
In this Aug. 31, 2018 photo, people stroll through Monterey Square in the historic landmark district of Savannah. Air along the coast earned recent air quality grades of A from the American Lung Association.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Georgia's Coast, Mountains Have Nation's Cleanest Air; Metro Quality Fails

A recent study by the American Lung Association shows the air along Georgia's coast and in the mountains is clean and unpolluted. But in the metro...

April 30, 2019
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge ,
  • Virginia Prescott ,
  • and 1 more

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