The American Lung Association’s 2018 State of the Air report found that the state saw small but significant progress in air quality, with Coos County improving from a D grade to a C for ozone, and Cheshire County improving from a C to an A in short-term particle pollution. Every county monitored for year-round pollution saw decreased exposure and improved air quality. This is in keeping with a trend seen across the nation of lower particle pollution levels.
“The 2018 State of the Air report was a hopeful one for New Hampshire, but there are still unhealthful levels of ozone throughout the state that can put our residents at risk for premature death and other serious health effects such as asthma attacks and greater difficulty breathing for those living with a lung disease like COPD,” says Jeff Seyler, chief division officer of American Lung Association. “Across the United States, the report found that ozone pollution worsened significantly in the 2014-16 period and that more than four in 10 Americans – 133.9 million – live in counties that have unhealthful levels of either ozone or particle pollution, where their health is at risk.”
The trends in this year’s report, which covers data collected by states, cities, counties, tribes and federal agencies in 2014-2016, reflects the ongoing challenges to reduce each pollutant in the changing political and outdoor climate.
“We can’t take our progress for granted. While improved grades are great, we have to remember that all it takes is one bad ozone day, or one short term particle pollution spike to send a child with asthma to the hospital,” says Lance Boucher, NH director of public policy for the American Lung Association. “The Lung Association in New Hampshire calls on our members of Congress to defend the Clean Air Act, currently under threat from those who want to weaken this effective public health law. We also call on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement and enforce the law instead of trying to roll back major safeguards like the Clean Power Plan and cleaner cars, both steps that help us fight climate change and reduce air pollution.”
Each year the “State of the Air” provides a report card on the two most widespread outdoor air pollutants, ozone pollution, also known as smog, and particle pollution, also called soot. Both ozone and particle pollution are dangerous to public health and can increase the risk of premature death and other serious health effects such as lung cancer, asthma attacks, cardiovascular damage, and developmental and reproductive harm.
Compared to the 2017 report, Coos County saw the greatest improvement, while Cheshire, Hillsborough and Rockingham each saw slight increases in ozone days, but grades remained unchanged. Rockingham County reported the most “high ozone” days in the state.
This report documents how warmer temperatures brought by climate change make ozone more likely to form and harder to clean up. This year’s report showed that ozone levels increased in most cities nationwide, in large part due to warmer temperatures in 2016, the second hottest year on record in the U.S. Over the past decades, ozone pollution has decreased nationwide because the nation has cleaned up major sources of the emissions that create ozone, especially coal-fired power plants and vehicles.
The 2018 report also found year-round particle pollution levels slightly lower than the 2017 report. All five reporting counties passed, maintaining levels in line with national standards. Nationwide, the best progress in this year’s report came in reducing year-round levels of particle pollution.